Nolan’s The Odyssey becomes his highest-grossing film at $1.1bn
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Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" has become his highest-grossing film ever, taking $1.1 billion worldwide and overtaking 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises" ($1.08 billion, unadjusted for inflation). The sword-and-sandal epic, adapted from Homer's poem and starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, also became Imax's biggest release of all time, with $289 million surpassing 2009's "Avatar" ($271 million). The milestones matter because they cement Nolan as one of cinema's most bankable directors and mark a rare box-office triumph for an R-rated title, while the film's run was far from finished when the records were set.
By that point, the film had grossed $461 million domestically and $643 million internationally, including $110 million in a single fourth weekend, and had yet to open in China, the world's second-biggest cinema market, ahead of its 14 August debut there. It ranked as the second-biggest film of 2026 behind "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" ($1.67 billion) and the second-highest-grossing R-rated release ever, behind "Deadpool and Wolverine" ($1.3 billion). Nolan's films have now grossed a combined $7 billion globally, with "The Odyssey" joining "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises" as his only billion-dollar hits; it was also the first feature shot entirely on Imax cameras, generating $147.3 million in Imax revenue in North America alone.
- "The Odyssey" is Nolan's highest-grossing film at $1.1bn
- It also set Imax's all-time box office record, $289m
- China release on 14 August yet to boost the total further
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Christopher Nolan is the British-American director behind films such as "Inception", "Interstellar" and the "Dark Knight" trilogy, known for large-scale, effects-heavy films shot on physical film rather than digitally. His latest work, "The Odyssey", is a big-budget adaptation of the ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer, starring Matt Damon as the wandering hero Odysseus. It is also notable as the first feature film shot entirely using Imax cameras, a large-format film technology usually reserved for select scenes rather than whole productions.
Box office totals are widely used to judge how successful a film is commercially, tallying ticket sales worldwide across its cinema run rather than just its opening weekend. Comparisons between films are usually made in raw dollar terms without adjusting for inflation, meaning older blockbusters can be overtaken more easily as ticket prices rise over time. Imax-specific earnings are tracked separately, as a marker of how well a film performs in premium large-screen formats.
These figures matter because they help place "The Odyssey" among the biggest commercial successes of Nolan's career and of the format he helped popularise, while the film's run is still ongoing, with its release in China, one of the world's largest cinema markets, yet to come.
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Originally published by Variety as “‘The Odyssey’ Is Christopher Nolan’s Highest-Grossing Movie Ever With $1.1 Billion and Imax’s Biggest Release of All Time With $289 Million”.