7/17-7/19: THE ODYSSEY Crushes Its Opening

Jul 19, 2026

Universal’s THE ODYSSEY ignited the box office with a very strong domestic opening of $124.5M while all other studios took the weekend off to avoid a head-on collision with Christopher Nolan’s formidable epic. With its dominant performance, THE ODYSSEY represented 64% of the $193.5M in ticket sales for all movies the past three days. The same weekend last year produced $134.2M, led by Warner Bros. and DC’s SUPERMAN which earned a very respectable $86.9M in its second weekend.

This weekend’s win compared to last year comes as a relief after disappointing openings in the last two weekends from Universal and Illumination’s MINIONS & MONSTERS and Disney’s MOANA. Their shortfalls made it essential for the second half of July take up the slack, and Nolan’s film has certainly done its job. The fact that it earned 64% of the overall box office shows a lack of support from other studios, which will extend into next weekend with no new significant releases on the schedule. When considering a new film release next weekend, it was obvious to studio execs that other films would be overwhelmed by THE ODYSSEY still going strong in its second weekend and the looming opening on July 31^st for Sony’s SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY.

Had THE ODYSSEY not done this well, exhibitors would have been sweating out a long two weeks of the summer until SPIDEY flew in to the rescue. As it turns out, theatre owners are relieved to be able to count their box office blessings from the last three days and can look ahead to a humongous SPIDER-MAN debut at the end of the month.

A strong August is required for 2026 to have a chance of breaking through the $9B ceiling that the industry has lived under since the pandemic. Here is how we see next month stacking up against August last year and in 2019.

August Box Office – 2026, 2025, and 2019

We expect the box office for August 2026 to be 51% higher than it was in 2025 and 19% above sales in August 2019. Here is our comparison of the most recent four-week period with results from last year.

The Last Four Weeks – 2026 vs. 2025

#1 – THE ODYSSEY

Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY from Universal opened with a stunning $124.5M domestic and $264.1M worldwide. Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem is one of the most ambitious film productions ever attempted. It was directed and produced by Nolan through Syncopy, the London-based production company the filmmaker founded in 2001 with his wife, the producer Emma Thomas. The movie was shot entirely with the latest IMAX technology, using approximately two million feet of IMAX film. Shooting took place at locations around the world in Greece (of course), Italy, Morocco, Scotland, and Iceland. With a production budget of approximately $250M, it ranks as the most expensive film of Nolan’s career. Running two hours and 52 minutes, the film is a grand-scale, mythological adventure designed specifically for a theatrical experience.

Christopher Nolan is one of modern cinema’s most influential filmmakers. His previous directing credits include FOLLOWING (1999), MEMENTO (2001), INSOMNIA (2002), BATMAN BEGINS (2005), THE PRESTIGE (2006), THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), INCEPTION (2010), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012), INTERSTELLAR (2014), DUNKIRK (2017), TENET (2020) and OPPENHEIMER (2023), which won a Best Picture Oscar.

The ensemble cast is among the strongest assembled in recent years. Matt Damon stars as Odysseus and is best known for GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997), the BOURNE series, and THE MARTIAN (2015). Tom Holland plays Telemachus, having already achieved worldwide fame in Marvel’s SPIDER-MAN films and UNCHARTED (2022). Anne Hathaway portrays Penelope following her acclaimed performances in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006), LES MISÉRABLES (2012), and INTERSTELLAR (2014). Robert Pattinson, known for THE BATMAN (2022), THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019) and TENET (2020), appears as Antinous. The supporting cast also includes Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Benny Safdie, and Elliot Page.

Nolan’s movie remains faithful to the broad outline of Homer’s epic while presenting it through the filmmaker’s signature style of nonlinear storytelling. Rather than simply depicting a hero’s voyage home, the film explores the physical, psychological, and emotional cost of war through the eyes of Odysseus, a Greek king whose greatest weapon is his guile and intelligence. Universal touts its film as a “mythic action epic,” but at its heart, it is a story about perseverance, family, temptation, and redemption.

The story opens in the aftermath of the Trojan War, which has dragged on for ten years. Having helped the Greeks achieve victory through the famous ruse of the Trojan Horse, Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his men set sail to return home to their island kingdom of Ithaca. What should have been a relatively short voyage instead becomes an extraordinary ten-year odyssey, beset by the wrath of the sea-God Poseidon, who was enraged by Odysseus’ blinding of his son, a one-eyed cyclops named Polyphemus. Odysseus’ attempts to return home are frustrated by an array of violent storms, supernatural forces, and impossible moral choices.

The crescendo of the movie comes when Odysseus is finally able to make it back to Ithaca. Disguised as a beggar to conceal his identity, he quietly observes the corruption that has overtaken his kingdom and tests the loyalty of old friends and servants. After revealing himself, he participates in the legendary contest involving his massive bow—a weapon only he can string—followed by his brutal retribution against the suitors occupying his palace. The confrontation is not simply an action sequence but the culmination of twenty years of pain, endurance, loss, and sacrifice.

Movie critics, most of whom have adored Nolan’s work to-date, have fallen in line once again with a nearly perfect 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Here are some examples of their words of praise for THE ODYSSEY. USA Today says, “Not only is it the greatest work on the iconic director’s noteworthy resume, but ‘The Odyssey’ also tops Matt Damon’s not-too-shabby CV. Just give him the best actor Oscar now, for Zeus’ sake.” Variety explains, “There’s so much to feel here at a sensory level that the film gets away with its slightly aloof, soul-skirting chill; we leave it feeling that we’ve been to hell and back, and exhilaratingly so.” The Wrap opined, “You can’t say Hollywood doesn’t make them like this anymore. Nobody ever did.” Finally, the Independent (U.K.) says, “This is a blockbuster of literally unprecedented scale. It is also Nolan’s best work to date. It deserves to be the film that defines him.”

A film on the scale of THE ODYSSEY is not produced on a tight budget, with Universal opening up its checkbook for Nolan to the tune of $250M. Using our trusty multiple of 2.5 times the production budget in worldwide gross to be profitable, THE ODYSSEY will need to earn $625M globally to make a profit. Based on Nolan’s track record and impressive opening weekend sales, there is every reason to believe that Universal’s investment will pay off. Few works of Western literature have had as large an impact as Homer’s 2,700-year-old epic poem, which has been translated into hundreds of languages and is studied in schools around the world. This widespread familiarity should give the film a leg up on the global box office. Here’s a look back at Nolan’s five highest-grossing films to date.

Christopher Nolan’s Five Highest-Grossing Movies

For a comparable film, we have chosen Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER from 2023. It was also a high-grossing affair, earning $975M worldwide, and was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. We can’t help but believe that Nolan himself is looking to OPPENHEIMER as a yardstick for measuring the success of THE ODYSSEY. Both films are inspired by a historical era, rated R, and have runtimes bumping up against three hours. Let the battle begin!

#2 – MOANA

Disney’s MOANA finished in second place this weekend by earning an additional $19.0M, a drop of 56% from last weekend’s opening. This brings the live-action remake’s ten-day totals to $82.1M domestically and $178.5M globally. Its ten-day domestic gross is only 32% of the total earned by the 2024 animated MOANA 2 at this same point in its release.

Frankly, this is a disaster for Disney, which stands to lose millions from the picture and calls into question the future potential of what has been one of Disney’s most important strategic directions, remaking its animated movies into live-action versions. MOANA will be the second live-action adaptation of an animated movie in the past two years to have lost money, following last year’s SNOW WHITE. Disney spent $500M combined to make the two movies, but only generated $460M at the global box office. After paying exhibitors their share of the ticket sales, only $230M came back to Disney, making for an estimated loss of $270M. Even that figure does not account for the additional $200M or more the studio spent to promote the movies. Taken together, we estimate that Disney is $500M in the hole on these two movies, before adding back downstream revenues from streaming, licensing, and merchandise sales.

Thankfully, Disney is the best in the business for maximizing a movie’s downstream revenue. But $500M is a lot to recoup, and we imagine that even Disney will not be able to earn that amount back. Converting its animated favorites into new live-action movies has been a key part of the Disney production strategy for decades. TANGLED is the studio’s next animated-to-live-action remake in production, with both a director and screenwriter attached. HERCULES is also active but has not yet entered principal photography. Industry observers have noted that Disney is proceeding more cautiously with its live-action remakes, limiting its focus to projects with strong commercial potential rather than rapidly expanding the remake slate.

MOANA (2026) vs. MOANA 2 (2024) after Ten Days

#3 TIE – MINIONS & MONSTERS

Now in its third weekend, Universal and Illumination’s MINIONS & MONSTERS fell from second to a third place tie by taking in $14.8M, a decline of 30%. This brings its 19-day totals to $137.6M domestically and $357.9M worldwide. While this is somewhat less than pre-release expectations, the good news for its studio backers is that the film is already profitable. This is the first underperformance of a movie in the MINIONS/DESPICABLE ME animated franchise, one of the most prolific in history. Each one of the five previous entries has grossed at or around $1B globally. MINIONS & MONSTERS will not come anywhere near that level, perhaps winding up with a $400M global gross or only 40% of the franchise average.

A month ago, most experts were still of the belief that the MINIONS/DESPICABLE ME franchise was “bulletproof.” Rotten Tomatoes critics weighed in with an excellent 91% rating on the new movie, and audiences seemed to enjoy it quite well, also with a 74% score. We think that the reasons for the decline come down to franchise fatigue, a major shift in plot, intense competition in the market, and perhaps even the distraction of the very popular FIFA World Cup, which has limited family moviegoing on certain weekends, especially in international markets.

Of all these, we think that the amount of competition in the market when it was released on July 1^st was perhaps the biggest limiting factor. MINIONS & MONSTERS has had to go up against two major summer rivals for the family audience, TOY STORY 5 which was still playing well and MOANA which opened and MOANA which arrived on the next weekend.

While it is too soon to declare the franchise in trouble, especially since MINIONS & MONSTERS will be profitable, the dramatic falloff is something to be considered closely. Illumination has done yeoman’s work to deliver high-quality animated films for modest budgets of $100M or less, with MINIONS & MONSTERS coming in at only $85M. This strategic advantage gives filmmakers more breathing room, lowering the hurdle to profitability and making it more likely to greenlight future chapters.

We expect the release date of the next film in the series will be more carefully planned, with an eye to maximizing its grossing potential with families.

MINIONS & MONSTERS vs. DESPICABLE ME 4 after 19 Days

#3 Tie – TOY STORY 5

TOY STORY 5 from Disney and Pixar finished in a third-place tie, bringing in $14.8M and dropping 22%. This brings its 31-day totals to $430.9M domestically and $958.4M globally. While the other family films in the market this summer have had disappointing results, TOY STORY 5 is on a path to becoming the highest-grossing TOY STORY movie of all time and has passed THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE’s $429.9M to claim the #1 movie of the year. At a time when many other long-running franchises are showing their age with diminishing returns, this film and franchise are as strong as ever. This is quite an accomplishment, placing TOY STORY decidedly on the Mount Rushmore of animated franchises. A TOY STORY 6 movie is a certainty, even if it comes out well into the future.

TOY STORY 5 vs. TOY STORY 4 after 31 Days

#5 – EVIL DEAD BURN

EVIL DEAD BURN, the horror film from Warner Bros., finished fifth in its second weekend by scaring up $5.0M, a steep decline of 64%. That brings its ten-day totals to $24.2M and $51.4M globally. This is not how Warner Bros. had hoped its EVIL DEAD franchise would be trending. Prior to release, with most tracking services having predicted an opening weekend in the $30M – $40M range. Its actual opening weekend came in at $13.7M, and its second weekend dropped 64% from that already-low start. It is unlikely to last in theatres much longer, perhaps only for the intervening week when there will be no new major released before SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY arrives on Friday, July 31^st. In many cases, an underperformance like this would spell disaster for its studio but WB was wise to keep a tight fiscal budget in making EVIL DEAD BURN, coming in at only $20M. As a result, EVIL DEAD BURN will still be profitable, especially after factoring in downstream revenues from streaming.

The biggest decision its producers will have to make is where to go from here. We estimate that the picture will struggle to generate 50% of the total worldwide box office of EVIL DEAD RISE from 2023. This precipitous fall off from one franchise entry to the next calls into question the viability of moving forward to create another chapter. Two factors argue in the direction of proceeding: these movies do not cost much to make and there seems to be a never-ending appetite for horror. If the Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. finally does go through, it will become their decision to make.

EVIL DEAD BURN vs. EVIL DEAD RISE