Eleven million dollars. That is what separates Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey from the domestic record for an R-rated film. After 105 days in North American theaters, the film finished with $625.6 million. Deadpool & Wolverine holds the mark at $636.7 million.
A long tail
Strategically, the interesting part is how the film got there. Its second-weekend drop was only about 30 percent, and it went on to earn roughly five times its opening weekend in the U.S., a multiplier most big openers cannot touch. It reached $500 million domestically in 31 days. Even at the end, 144 theaters were still playing it, and it took in about $34,000 on its 15th Thursday.
Built on format
Large-format screens accounted for 53 percent of the domestic opening. IMAX has called The Odyssey its highest-grossing release ever, ahead of Avatar. Nolan shot the film entirely with IMAX cameras, a first for a feature, and the 70mm IMAX showings kept selling out for weeks. The opening weekend brought in $264.1 million worldwide, including $124.5 million in North America, and the film passed $1 billion in three weeks, before it opened in China.
Where it ranks
At home, it is the second-highest-grossing R-rated film ever, the second-biggest film of the year behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Universal’s second-biggest domestic release, behind Jurassic World at $653.4 million. Worldwide the picture reverses. It passed Deadpool & Wolverine in August and now stands at roughly $1.79 billion, about $1.17 billion of it from international markets, making it the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. It is also the biggest film of Nolan’s career, well past Oppenheimer‘s roughly $975 million.
The calculus on cost is simple. The film reportedly cost $250 million, and estimates put break-even between $625 million and $750 million. Some analysts note that inflation and premium ticket prices complicate comparisons with older hits.
What comes next
The theatrical run is not quite over. Universal brought the film back to select IMAX and 70mm screens in October, and it arrives on digital, 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on November 18. The studio’s Oscar campaign gets going the week of Nov. 9, with screenings and Q&As that put Nolan, producer Emma Thomas and Matt Damon in front of voters nearly every night for two weeks. Robert Downey Jr. moderates the Los Angeles kickoff on Nov. 11 at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Sources
- 'The Odyssey' Docks at the Domestic Box Office With an Epic Finish Just Behind 'Deadpool & Wolverine'
- The Odyssey (2026 film)
- Discover the film locations for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (2026), with interactive maps, around the Aeolian and Egadi Islands of Sicily in Italy; the Peloponnese in Greece; Essaouira and the Ksar of Ait Benhaddou at Ouarzazate in Morocco; the black sand beaches of Southern Iceland near Vik; the Firth of Moray in Aberdeenshire, Scotland; watertanks in Malta; and in the studio at Los Angeles, California.
- ‘The Odyssey’ Oscar Blitz to Begin With Robert Downey Jr., Guillermo del Toro and Steven Spielberg as Moderators
- Elon Musk’s AI Odyssey review – the dullest, most pointless riposte possible to Christopher Nolan’s brilliant epic
- The Odyssey (2026): Every Actor, Every Character, and What They Mean to the Story – High On Films
Photo: Grace Anne Bobadilla / Unsplash (Unsplash License)
