The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan‘s adaptation of Homer’s epic, has passed $1.6 billion in worldwide ticket sales. That puts it within reach of Universal Pictures‘ all-time box office record. The Odyssey box office total sits at $1.63 billion. Universal’s current leader, Jurassic World, stands at $1.67 billion.
The gap between the two films is now less than $40 million. The Odyssey continues to play in theaters, including extended IMAX 70mm screenings added to meet demand. If it keeps its current pace, the film could pass Jurassic World within weeks. That would make it the highest-grossing release in Universal’s history.
The Odyssey box office by the numbers
The film already holds two other box office distinctions. It topped The Dark Knight Rises to log the biggest opening weekend of Nolan’s directing career. It also passed Deadpool & Wolverine to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever released. Both marks show how wide The Odyssey’s audience has been. It spans longtime Nolan fans and moviegoers drawn in by the film’s ensemble cast.
An R-rated release rarely climbs this close to the top of a studio’s all-time chart. Wide R-rated releases typically draw smaller audiences than the PG-13 blockbusters that usually dominate box office totals. Some theaters trim matinee showings for R-rated films, and family audiences are excluded outright. That makes The Odyssey’s run next to a franchise like Jurassic World unusual. It comes on top of the R-rated record the film already holds.
Large-format screenings have played a part in that reach. Nolan has leaned on IMAX film cameras since The Dark Knight. His previous release, 2023’s Oppenheimer, also had a wide IMAX 70mm rollout. Extending those screenings for The Odyssey suggests sustained demand for the format, not just a one-week opening rush.
A Trojan War story with a starry cast
Matt Damon plays Odysseus, the Greek king making his way home from the Trojan War. Along the way he faces a cyclops, a sea monster, and a whirlpool. He also runs into man-eating giants and a witch who turns men into pigs.
Anne Hathaway plays his wife Penelope. She fends off a group of suitors led by Robert Pattinson‘s Antinous while she waits for his return. Tom Holland plays the couple’s son, Telemachus. He sets out separately to search for news of his father.
Nolan has described the project as an attempt to bring a familiar story to audiences in a new way. “What you’re looking for is to bring something new to show something to the audience that maybe they haven’t had the chance to experience before,” Nolan told GamesRadar+. “The Odyssey, ironically for a 3000-year-old foundational text, is a story really at the bottom of so many other stories that have followed it since. It underpins so much of movies, but it has never been done in modern cinema.”
What comes next for The Odyssey
The Odyssey is still playing in theaters. Its box office run has not slowed enough to suggest an imminent exit from cinemas. Closing a $40 million gap with Jurassic World would give Universal a new all-time highest-grossing release. It would also add another record to a run that already includes the studio’s biggest R-rated hit. Nolan’s strongest opening weekend is part of that same run.