THE SIREN'S CALL

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Conquers the Box Office

The star-studded event film was the writer-director’s highest-grossing global launch.

Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited retelling of Homer’s epic Greek myth “The Odyssey” had the biggest live-action opening weekend of the year, raking in $124.5 million on 3,900 North American screens. weekend. Only the family blockbusters “Toy Story 5” ($159 million) and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million) had larger debuts. Because “The Odyssey” is rated R, it also claimed the year’s biggest opening for an R-rated film and the highest-ever opening weekend for an R-rated movie released by Universal. With a stacked cast that includes Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, and Elliot Page, the movie received high praise from audiences, who gave it an A CinemaScore. Internationally, Nolan surpassed his own record, with “The Odyssey” beating out 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” for Nolan’s biggest worldwide opening. Globally, “The Odyssey” collected $264.1 million, adding $139.6 million to the U.S. total from 73 international markets. “The Dark Knight Rises” made $249 million on its global launch, following up on the critical and popular success of Nolan’s second Batman film, “The Dark Knight.”