Sir Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of The Odyssey has been a major box office success, taking $264m (£198m) globally on its opening weekend, and has also driven a sharp rise in interest in Homer's original poem. UK print sales have risen by 700% compared with the same week last year, while audiobook listening figures have surged, with narrations by Sir Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellen entering the charts. This crossover from cinema to classical literature has surprised booksellers and highlighted the film's cultural reach, particularly among younger audiences.

Almost 8,000 print copies were sold in the UK last week, bringing the year's total to 47,000, a 95% year-on-year increase, according to NielsenIQ BookData, with Waterstones reporting "phenomenal" demand for Emily Wilson's 2017 translation, one of Nolan's cited sources. Spotify audiobook listens have risen roughly 680% since the film's Friday release, with over 80% of listeners being Gen Z or millennials. The film itself broke UK Imax opening-weekend records, taking £12.6m domestically, and was the first theatrical release shot entirely on Imax 70mm cameras, though only three UK cinemas can screen it in that format. Wilson welcomed the renewed interest but noted Nolan's version omits some themes central to the original poem.