'The Odyssey' breaks the box office with a world premiere of $264.1 million

The Odissey of Christopher Nolan is having an epic start at the box office.

Universal Pictures released Nolan's long-awaited project in theaters around the world, with a debut that led him to collect in the domestic box office $124.5 million dollarswhile in the international box office grossed $139.6 million dollarsfor a global total of $264.1 million dollars.

It is an extraordinary debut for a Rated R film, almost three hours long, and not part of a franchise, making it clear – once again – that the Nolan name carries great weight.

At the national box office it is screened in 3,900 movie theaters. In the international market, it is available in 73 countries. It remains to debut in South Korea, China and Japan.

PREMIERE DATA:

• Mark the best opening of Nolan's career at the global box officeexceeding $249 million The Dark Knight Rises (2012), without adjustments for inflation.
• It is the best opening at the global box office for a live-action movie in 2026.
• It's the best movie premiere Universal Pictures R rating.
• Best debut of his career Matt Damon.
• Second-best R-rated opening of all time at the global box office, and fourth-best R-rated opening at the domestic box office.
• It is the third best premiere of the year in any formatbehind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($372.5 mdd) y Toy Story 5 ($312 mdd).

Their ten best international markets: United Kingdom ($17.4 billion), France ($13.7 billion), Italy ($11.5 billion), Australia ($9.3 billion), Germany ($8.1 billion), India ($7.3 billion), Mexico ($7 mdd)Spain ($5.2 million), Brazil ($4.8 million), and the United Arab Emirates ($3 million).

The production budget was $250 million dollars.

The Odyssey adapts Homer's epic poem, about 3,000 years old, and revolves around Odysseus, king of Ithaca, on his perilous journey home after the Trojan Warexploring themes of heroism, loyalty, cunning, and fighting against divine will.

During his journey, Odysseus faces the cyclops Polyphemus, the mermaids, the nymph Calypso and the witch goddess Circe in the treacherous oceans that separate him from his native island and his wife Penelope, who breaks up a wedding procession that she weaves every night in case one of the suitors who have taken over her home ends up marrying her if her husband does not return. His memory is also guarded by his son Telemachus. The story also includes gods such as Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus.

The huge star cast includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Samantha Morton, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Elliot Page, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Himesh Patel, Benny Safdie, Bill Irwin, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Logan Marshall-Green, y Corey Hawkins.

The production used new technology IMAX and equipment never used before, making history by becoming the first narrative feature film filmed entirely with IMAX cameras. What does it mean? While filming was previously limited to filming action scenes in IMAX mainly, due to how noisy the format's cameras are for filming dialogues close to the actor, Nolan and company created a new casing for the IMAX moviecall blimpto significantly reduce noise, and film in IMAX in its entirety.