Christopher Nolan has turned an ancient epic into a modern box-office event. ‘The Odyssey’, his sprawling take on Homer starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, opened to more than $124 million in the United States and $264.1 million worldwide — a record start for the director and the biggest opening of Damon’s career.

A Record Even for Nolan

The debut outpaces the launch of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ to become Nolan’s strongest opening yet, and it lands as 2026’s biggest live-action bow. Only the animated giants ‘Toy Story 5’ and ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ have opened higher this year. Audiences handed it an A CinemaScore, the kind of grade that signals long legs beyond opening weekend.

Damon’s Biggest Bow

For Matt Damon, Odysseus is a career milestone as much as a role. Anchoring a Nolan spectacle built for the largest screens, he delivers the movie’s emotional spine on a scale that rewards the format’s obsession with practical scope and IMAX presentation.

A Crowded Summer

The Odyssey arrives into a packed July, with Disney’s ‘Moana’ remake and ‘Toy Story 5’ chasing family audiences and Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ looming at month’s end. Its record opening suggests grown-up spectacle can still command the multiplex against animation and superheroes.

Why It Matters

Two decades into blockbuster fatigue, a three-hour adaptation of a 2,700-year-old poem just posted a career-best number for one of Hollywood’s few true auteur draws — proof that ambition, marketed as an event, still sells tickets.

Photo: markhillary / BY via flickr