{"id":2052117,"date":"2026-07-20T09:59:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2052117"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:59:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:59:03","slug":"the-odyssey-is-the-biggest-live-action-film-of-the-year-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2052117","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Odyssey\u2019 is the biggest live-action film of the year so far"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Matt-Damon-and-Zendaya-in-The-Odyssey.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2749694\" class=\"post-2749694 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>News<\/span><span>Film News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">\u2018The Odyssey\u2019 is the biggest live-action film of the year so far<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The film has become one of Christopher Nolan&#8217;s biggest openings ever<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Sam Warner<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-07-20T10:59:03+01:00\">20th July 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span8\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Matt-Damon-and-Zendaya-in-The-Odyssey-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Damon and Zendaya in &apos;The Odyssey&apos;\" title=\"Matt Damon and Zendaya in &apos;The Odyssey&apos;\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Matt Damon and Zendaya in &#8216;The Odyssey&#8217;. CREDIT: Universal Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_83 article-content-row vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><i>The Odyssey<\/i> has made a huge splash at the box office in its opening weekend, becoming the biggest live-action film of the year so far.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Nolan\u2019s latest film is based on Homer\u2019s classic Greek epic, and features Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, the story focusing on his long voyage home after the Trojan War.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Following its release last week, studio Universal Pictures has confirmed that the film has already made $264million (\u00a3196million) at the global box office, making it the director\u2019s best-ever opening outside of the Batman franchise.<\/p>\n<p>It was even higher than his last film <i>Oppenheimer<\/i>, which opened to $180million (\u00a3133million) globally and went on to make nearly a billion at the end of its run.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Odyssey | Official Trailer\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mzw2ttJD2qQ?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>In North America, <i>The Odyssey<\/i> has proved to be the third-biggest opening of the year behind <i>Toy Story 5<\/i> and <i>The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/i>, its $124.5million (\u00a392million), giving it the largest live-action opening of 2026 so far.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s off a reported $250million (\u00a3185million) budget, and exceeds Universal\u2019s projected $100million (\u00a374million) opening in North America. According to the statistics, 56 per cent of the audience was made up of men, with three-quarters over 25 and half aged between 18 and 34.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>The Odyssey<\/i> has further become Nolan\u2019s best-reviewed film of his career, with a 95 per cent fresh score on <i>Rotten Tomatoes<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>In <i>NME<\/i>\u2019s five-star review, we said: \u201cLess a case of them not making \u2018em like they used to, watching the film leaves you with a sense that this sort of thing probably won\u2019t be made at all for too much longer \u2013 the sheer scale, ambition and weight of it seeming to belong to a different world already. It\u2019s hard to see how cinema can get much bigger than this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Damon, the film also features Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton and Mia Goth.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Nolan has said it will be \u201cat least\u201d three years before he releases his next film, telling <i>Today<\/i>: \u201cI definitely hit the limits of my own stamina and everybody\u2019s stamina, I think.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI mean, it\u2019s <em>The Odyssey<\/em>, of course it should be difficult. We\u2019re not doing the job right making a film of <i>The Odyssey <\/i>if it doesn\u2019t seem difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The director has also responded to the \u201cirrelevant\u201d backlash to some of the casting choices, as well as the use of modern English dialogue in the film.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Anne Hathaway<\/li>\n<li>Christopher Nolan<\/li>\n<li>Matt Damon<\/li>\n<li>The Odyssey<\/li>\n<li>Tom Holland<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_89 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span4 td-is-sticky\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-sidebar  tdi_92 td_block_template_2\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_93 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_93\">\n<div class=\"td-block-title-wrap\">\n<h4 class=\"td-block-title\"><span class=\"td-pulldown-size\">TRENDING<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_93\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Yard Act \u2013 \u2018You\u2019re Gonna Need A Little Music\u2019 review: Leeds lads hone in on their truest form<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-\">\n<div 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tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><i>The Odyssey<\/i> has made a huge splash at the box office in its opening weekend, becoming the biggest live-action film of the year so far.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Nolan\u2019s latest film is based on Homer\u2019s classic Greek epic, and features Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, the story focusing on his long voyage home after the Trojan War.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Following its release last week, studio Universal Pictures has confirmed that the film has already made $264million (\u00a3196million) at the global box office, making it the director\u2019s best-ever opening outside of the Batman franchise.<\/p>\n<p>It was even higher than his last film <i>Oppenheimer<\/i>, which opened to $180million (\u00a3133million) globally and went on to make nearly a billion at the end of its run.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Odyssey | Official Trailer\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mzw2ttJD2qQ?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>In North America, <i>The Odyssey<\/i> has proved to be the third-biggest opening of the year behind <i>Toy Story 5<\/i> and <i>The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/i>, its $124.5million (\u00a392million), giving it the largest live-action opening of 2026 so far.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s off a reported $250million (\u00a3185million) budget, and exceeds Universal\u2019s projected $100million (\u00a374million) opening in North America. According to the statistics, 56 per cent of the audience was made up of men, with three-quarters over 25 and half aged between 18 and 34.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>The Odyssey<\/i> has further become Nolan\u2019s best-reviewed film of his career, with a 95 per cent fresh score on <i>Rotten Tomatoes<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>In <i>NME<\/i>\u2019s five-star review, we said: \u201cLess a case of them not making \u2018em like they used to, watching the film leaves you with a sense that this sort of thing probably won\u2019t be made at all for too much longer \u2013 the sheer scale, ambition and weight of it seeming to belong to a different world already. It\u2019s hard to see how cinema can get much bigger than this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Damon, the film also features Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton and Mia Goth.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Nolan has said it will be \u201cat least\u201d three years before he releases his next film, telling <i>Today<\/i>: \u201cI definitely hit the limits of my own stamina and everybody\u2019s stamina, I think.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI mean, it\u2019s <em>The Odyssey<\/em>, of course it should be difficult. We\u2019re not doing the job right making a film of <i>The Odyssey <\/i>if it doesn\u2019t seem difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The director has also responded to the \u201cirrelevant\u201d backlash to some of the casting choices, as well as the use of modern English dialogue in the film.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/film\/the-odyssey-biggest-live-action-film-2026-so-far-3957931&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Matt-Damon-and-Zendaya-in-The-Odyssey.jpg&#8221;] NewsFilm News \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 is the biggest live-action film of the year so far The film has become one of Christopher Nolan&#8217;s biggest openings ever By Sam Warner 20th July 2026 Matt Damon and Zendaya in &#8216;The Odyssey&#8217;. CREDIT: Universal Studios The Odyssey has made a huge splash at the box office [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2052117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2052117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2052117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2052117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2052117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}