The Odyssey storms the box office: exceptional start in the US
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Beats Blockbuster Gravity With $15M Previews, Proving Subversive Auteurism is Big Business. $250M bet on a dark, Emily Wilson-inspired anti-war epic anchors a massive $90M+ domestic projection, proving audiences will pay premium prices for cinematic trauma. For decades, Hollywood has used ancient Greek mythology as a cover for muscular sword and sandal popcorn entertainment. Christopher Nolan just flipped that whole paradigm on its head and the box office is rewarding him for it.
With a $15 million haul from domestic previews on Thursday night, The Odyssey has put in a performance to remember. That kind of opening is a new high for live-action debuts this summer, and it puts Nolan’s Oscar-winner Oppenheimer ($10.5 million) in the shade. Projections for the rest of the weekend have the film raking in $90 to $100 million at home across 3,900 screens, with the worldwide total set to top $200 million by Sunday.
One could call it a masterclass in event marketing for the studio heads. Judging by the trailers, one might expect an action piece to please the crowds, but what they have on their hands is a grueling, R-rated three-hour affair that delves into the psychological shrapnel of war. Drawing heavily on Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation, Nolan has done away with any romantic notion of the classical hero. In his telling, Matt Damon’s Odysseus is a complicated, fractured sort of man making his way through a morally ambiguous world.
That a movie packed with psychological horror and anti-war sentiment can command a $250 million production budget — and a $125 million marketing campaign — is proof of the brand equity Nolan has with audiences. Then there is the matter of the premium format. Having been filmed on IMAX 70mm, The Odyssey has become a must-see for cinephiles. Exhibitioners are reporting PLF auditoriums running at capacity for the next month or so in some of the bigger cities, with ticket prices to match.
Universal will want to see how well the film holds up on a standard digital screen. The numbers on Rotten Tomatoes are pristine at 99 percent, but do not be fooled; the desaturated visuals and the non-linear nature of the story make for a far more arduous experience than your typical summer popcorn fare. Yet Nolan has made a habit of converting such heavy thematic material and structural demands into box office returns. Unencumbered by any counter-programming from the studio, The Odyssey has staked its claim as the commercial titan of the season, even if it is an anti-war epic with a distinctly subversive bent.
Source: Deadline
