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‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way
Several of 2026's biggest box office successes, including The Odyssey, Project Hail Mary, Backrooms and Obsession, have leaned heavily on practical effects and location filming rather than digital trickery, and their marketing has made a point of highlighting this "old-school" approach. By contrast, franchise films with built-in audiences, such as Masters of the Universe, Supergirl, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu and Moana, have underperformed and drawn criticism for looking artificial or overly reliant on CGI, suggesting audiences are increasingly rewarding tangible, effortful filmmaking over polished but "fakey" spectacle.
Figures cited include The Odyssey's $264 million and Project Hail Mary's $683 million takings, alongside Backrooms' $384 million and Obsession's $442 million, despite the latter two having budgets of just $10 million and $750,000 respectively. Christopher Nolan reportedly refused CG set extensions for The Odyssey despite the physical demands of filming at remote real-world locations, while Phil Lord and Christopher Miller publicised their use of puppetry over green screens on Project Hail Mary. The article argues this trend coincides with growing public backlash against "AI slop", and notes that even the highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday has faced criticism that its trailer looks artificially soundstage-bound.
In short
- Practical-effects films are outperforming CGI-heavy franchise movies at the 2026 box office.
- The Odyssey, Project Hail Mary, Backrooms and Obsession all touted "old-school" filmmaking methods.
- Franchise films like Supergirl and Moana were criticised for looking artificial.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Films like The Odyssey ($264m) and Project Hail Mary ($683m) achieved significant success whilst explicitly marketing their practical effects approach, and the extraordinary returns on Backrooms ($10m to $384m) and Obsession ($750k to $442m) demonstrate audiences reward authentic craftsmanship. In an era of backlash against artificial digital content, this pattern reflects broader sentiment that audiences value genuine, tangible effort. The evidence suggests viewers are gravitating towards films made with honest commitment over franchise entries relying primarily on digital polish.
The case against
Whilst the box office figures appear striking, this argument mistakes correlation for causation by cherry-picking films that succeeded with practical effects whilst overlooking failures in the same category and successes among CGI-heavy films. The cited films succeeded for many complex, independent reasons—compelling storytelling, effective marketing, cast appeal, release timing—largely unrelated to production method, and comparison films may have underperformed for entirely different reasons: poor scripting or franchise fatigue, not their reliance on digital effects. The underlying pattern is likely that well-executed films triumph with audiences regardless of technical approach, and that backlash against artificial-looking content reflects poor execution specifically, not a principled audience preference against digital effects.
Explained simply
Practical effects are objects, make-up and sets filmed in front of the camera; location filming uses real places instead of studio backgrounds. Computer-generated imagery, or CGI, adds or creates images digitally. Many films combine these methods, but filmmakers sometimes emphasise practical work to show how their films were made.
Christopher Nolan, who directed The Odyssey, and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who made Project Hail Mary, are among the directors associated with this approach. Their films sit alongside smaller productions such as Backrooms and Obsession, while major franchises including Star Wars and Marvel’s Avengers rely on familiar characters and large-scale effects. The contrast matters because studios use established franchises to attract audiences, yet the films’ reception suggests that visual style can also shape whether people choose to watch.
The debate comes as audiences and filmmakers raise concerns about AI-generated material and images that can feel impersonal or artificial. Strong box-office results for some films featuring physical sets and real locations have prompted questions about whether audiences value seeing tangible work on screen. That does not mean CGI has disappeared: it remains a common tool, often used alongside practical effects.