‘The Odyssey’ sets sail with $264m at worldwide box office, a record opening for Christopher Nolan

Worldwide box office: July 17-19

Credit: Rentrak. All figures are estimates

Records tumble for Nolan’s Greek epic

Universal’s gutsy gamble on Christopher Nolan’s passion project has been rewarded at the box office, with an estimated opening for The Odyssey of $124.5m in North America, $139.6m across 73 international markets and $264.1m worldwide.

That’s a record opening for Nolan, ahead of 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises ($249m), although the international rollout on that occasion was staggered, with an initial salvo in just North America plus 17 international markets – and the comparison is not adjusted for inflation.

Three years ago, Oppenheimer opened with $180m worldwide, on its way to a $975.8m, buoyed by the Barbenheimer phenomenon. The opening for The Odyssey is 47% ahead of the Oppenheimer debut.

The Odyssey has delivered the biggest worldwide opening of 2026 for a live-action film and a non-sequel film, and the third-biggest overall, behind only the debuts of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Toy Story 5.

Among international markets, The Odyssey has set a record Nolan opening in 48 territories, including France, Italy, India, Spain, Brazil, Netherlands and Poland.

There are three key markets – all in Asia – yet to release. The Odyssey is set to land in South Korea on August 5, in China on August 14 and in Japan on September 11.

Nolan’s film has been especially powerful in Imax and on premium formats. Imax reports worldwide box office of $51.8m (and thus a 19.6% share) – a record Imax opening in like-for-like markets (excluding China, Japan and South Korea). The number includes $6.3m from just 41 screens playing in 70mm – an average of £153,000 per screen.

The Odyssey opened in 440 Imax screens – every commercially available site in the opening markets.

In North America, Imax achieved a 23% share, and all enhanced formats collectively delivered 53% of the film’s box office. The audience split 59:41 male female, with 76% aged 25 or over.

Among international markets, UK/Ireland leads with an estimated $17.4m, delivering the biggest ever three-day opening at London’s BFI Imax.

France comes second with $13.7m – a record opening for Nolan in the territory. The brand new Pathé Odysseum in Montpellier, France’s first ever 70mm Imax site, opened just in time for the release and sold out all shows.

Numbers in the two leading international markets will have softened on Saturday night thanks to the so-called ‘bronze final’ (third-place playoff) World Cup game between France and England. Markets in western time zones (including Americas and Europe) will have been impacted by the Argentina vs. Spain final on Sunday.

Italy is the third-biggest international market with an estimated $11.5m – defying past (albeit decaying) historical assumptions that blockbusters don’t play in the territory in summertime. It’s the biggest July opening ever in Italy, and has surpassed the lifetime totals of Nolan hits such as Tenet and Dunkirk.

Both Australia ($9.3m) and Germany ($8.1m) delivered the second-biggest openings for a Nolan film, behind only The Dark Knight Rises, and above Oppenheimer. In India ($7.2m), The Odyssey achieved Nolan’s biggest ever opening.

Next for The Odyssey come the opening numbers in Mexico ($7.0m), Spain ($5.2m) and Brazil, with Saudia Arabia and UAE tied on $3.0m.

Production budget is reported at $250m – with Nolan flexing his power after Oppenheimer to command the resources he required to bring Homer’s epic poem to the screen, filming in many remote, challenging locations.

It’s fair to assume that relatively few of the tens of millions of cinemagoers who will see the film have actually read The Odyssey, or have an interest in Greek classic literature. The risk for Universal is hedged not only by Nolan’s name but by a cast led by Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland, with Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie and Himesh Patel.

A run time of 173 minutes might have limited showtimes – but given the saturation programming across multiple screens per venue, that point remains moot.

Family films enjoy decent holds

A trio of major-studio family films enjoyed decent traction in the market at the weekend, despite The Odyssey sucking up screen space and the attention of parents. Toy Story 5, Moana and Minions & Monsters all achieved weekend takings in the $42-45m range (see top 10 chart), and ranked third, fourth and fifth at the worldwide box office.

Toy Story 5 led the trio, dropping just 30% globally in its fifth weekend of play, with estimated takings of $44.8m. Total to date is $958.4m, and the film looks a dead cert to push past $1bn. Matching Toy Story 3 ($1.07bn in 2010) and Toy Story 4 ($1.08bn in 2019) remains less certain. These numbers are not adjusted for inflation.

Moana suffered a steeper drop in its second session, falling 54% overall. Estimated takings of $44.0m take the total after two weekends of play to $178.5m. Disney looks set to avoid the embarrassment of Moana falling below the lifetime worldwide total of Snow White ($205.7m) – the studio’s live-action-remake disappointment of 2025.

Minions & Monsters fell 29% in its third weekend of full play, with estimated takings of $42.7m. Total so far is $357.9m.

All these films should continue to play fairly robustly across the summer holiday in the northern hemisphere.

‘Kung Fu Soccer’ enjoys sensational hold in China – and ‘Hope’ hits big in South Korea

Steven Chow’s Kung Fu Soccer is evidently enjoying positive word of mouth in China, grossing an estimated $69.6m in its second session according to Comscore, a 2% rise on the opening number – and a second place ranking at the worldwide weekend box office, below only The Odyssey. However, the opening weekend, beginning Saturday July 11, was just two days, compared to three days for the latest reporting. Total after nine days is a powerful $208.9m.

(Local data gatherer Artisan Gateway offers slightly stronger numbers on Kung Fu Soccer – $73.7m for the latest weekend, and a $214.3m total.)

Kung Fu Soccer follows the journey of a fictional Chinese women’s soccer team. Hong Kong-born Chow achieved international recognition in 2001 with Shaolin Soccer and in 2004 with Kung Fu Hustle.

Kung Fu Soccer is one of two local hits in major Asian markets in the current worldwide top 10 chart – the other is Hope, from South Korea’s Na Hong-jin (The Wailing). Hope, which premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May, has opened in its home market with an estimated $16.3m, good enough for a sixth-place ranking at the worldwide weekend box office.

In 2016, The Wailing opened in South Korea with $13.1m, on its way to a territory total of $48.6m.

Thriller Hope stars Hwang Jung-min as a police chief in a remote South Korean village that believes itself threatened by a mysterious creature. The cast also includes Taylor Russell, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander in supporting roles, and Neon has English-language markets.

Megabox subsidiary Plus M Entertainment distributes in South Korea.

• ‘The Odyssey’ review: Matt Damon leads all-star cast in Christopher Nolan’s towering Imax adaptation of Homer’s epic poem