Universal/Syncopy’s “The Odyssey” was a tentpole-level gamble on Christopher Nolan’s global popularity, and it has paid off huge with an estimated $124.5 million domestic/$264 million global opening weekend amidst critical and audience acclaim.
While the actual totals reported on Monday morning may fluctuate more from these estimates than usual due to global interest in the FIFA World Cup final pulling away moviegoers, those numbers are still set to be around 46% higher than the $180.4 million global launch of Nolan’s 2023 Oscar-winning hit “Oppenheimer,” which finished with $965 million worldwide.
While third-weekend competition from Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” should be taken into account, this strong global start and audience scores that include an A on CinemaScore, 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 81% “definite recommend” rating on PostTrak, combined with the lack of a major wide release next weekend, all point to a theatrical run with the fuel to clear $1 billion worldwide.
As it stands, “The Odyssey” has passed the 2017 horror film “It” as the highest domestic opening for an R-rated film outside of Marvel’s “Deadpool” trilogy and for a Nolan film outside of his “Dark Knight” trilogy.”
The success of this weekend shows how Christopher Nolan is not just the world’s most popular filmmaker, but has built up a box office draw that rivals the likes of Tom Cruise and Hollywood’s biggest A-list actors. “The Odyssey” has become the highest opening weekend ever for Nolan in 48 countries and for Universal in 11, including India, where the film’s $7.2 million opening is the largest ever for a non-franchise Hollywood production.
Other top markets for “The Odyssey” include $17.4 million in the U.K. and Ireland, where the BFI Imax in London will be showing sold-out screenings around the clock for the next two weeks. In France, where the film grossed $13.7 million, similar total sellouts have been reported at the Pathé Odysseum Montpellier, which is France’s first theater with Imax 70mm capability and opened in timing with this film.
And while Imax 70mm, a format with only a few dozen screens worldwide, is the hottest ticket for “The Odyssey,” a staggering 53% of all tickets sold were for premium formats, including digital Imax, Dolby, 35mm, 70mm, and other in-house theater PLFs. Imax alone accounted for 23%, or approximately $28 million, of the film’s domestic grosses with a worldwide Imax total of $51 million, second highest of all time for the format behind only “Avengers: Endgame.”
Taking second is Disney’s struggling remake of “Moana,” which made $19 million domestic and $44 million worldwide to bring its 10-day total to a poor $82.1 million domestic and $178.5 million global. While the film’s decent traction with families as a PG alternative to the R-rated “Odyssey” will push it past the $205 million global total of last year’s bomb “Snow White,” it will still fall well short of $500 million and will require other Disney summer hits like “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and “Toy Story 5” to make up for the theatrical loss.
In a virtual tie for third are Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” in its fifth weekend and Universal/Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters” in its third weekend, each with an estimated $14.8 million. “Toy Story 5” is now on the cusp of joining the $1 billion club with $958 million worldwide — including a year-best $431 million domestic — while “Minions 3” has passed $350 million worldwide with $137 million domestic.
Completing the top 5 is Warner Bros./New Line’s “Evil Dead Burn,” which is falling fast with a 64% second weekend drop to just $5 million and a 10-day total of just $24 million domestic. Fortunately, the film is getting a boost from overseas distribution, which is being handled by Sony, as it has earned $27 million internationally for a $51 million global cume against a $20 million production budget.
