The Odyssey (2026): Cast, Story, Reviews and Box Office

Christopher Nolan’s first epic shot entirely on IMAX film became the biggest R-rated movie ever made.

By EuroFilm Editorial · October 23, 2026 · 7 min read

Christopher Nolan spent his post-Oppenheimer clout on the oldest blockbuster in Western literature. The Odyssey adapts Homer’s epic poem about a king trying to get home after the Trojan War, and it arrived in July 2026 with enormous expectations: it was the first feature shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film cameras, and premium-format tickets went on sale a full year before release.

What is The Odyssey about?

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, sets out for home once Troy has fallen. The voyage takes years and puts him and his men in the path of monsters, gods and temptations. Back in Ithaca, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus hold off a crowd of suitors who want her hand and his throne. Nolan keeps the familiar structure of the poem but tells it at the scale of a modern action epic.

The Odyssey cast

Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Tom Holland as Telemachus. Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, the most dangerous of the suitors. The gods and mythic figures are cast with stars: Zendaya is Athena, Charlize Theron is Calypso and Samantha Morton is Circe. Lupita Nyong’o plays both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. The supporting cast includes Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, Elliot Page as Sinon and John Leguizamo as the swineherd Eumaeus.

How it was made

Filming ran from February to August 2025 across Morocco, Greece, Italy, Malta, Iceland and Scotland, with studio work on the Universal lot. Nolan and his cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema used more than two million feet of IMAX film. If you can, see it in IMAX 70mm, where the full 1.43:1 frame is shown; most standard screens crop it.

What critics said

Reviews were strongly positive. Early Rotten Tomatoes counts sat in the high 90s and Metacritic landed around 89, which signals near-universal acclaim. Critics singled out the physical, in-camera spectacle, van Hoytema’s photography, Ludwig Göransson’s score and Damon’s performance, and several were surprised by how clear the film’s emotional core is. The main complaints came from viewers attached to the poem: Nolan takes liberties with Homer, and some reviewers found his dialogue as functional as ever.

Box office

The Odyssey is a phenomenon. By late September 2026 it had grossed about $1.72 billion worldwide, including roughly $610 million in North America. That makes it the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, Universal’s biggest release ever, Nolan’s highest-grossing film and, at the time of writing, the eleventh-highest-grossing film in history.

Where to watch The Odyssey

It is still playing in many cinemas. Universal has set the digital and 4K Ultra HD release for November 17, 2026. A streaming date has not been announced; Universal films usually land on Peacock in the US a few months after their digital release. Browse what else is on the big screen on our movies in theaters now page.

Is The Odyssey worth watching?

Yes, and on the biggest screen you can find. It is long at nearly three hours, and purists will argue with the changes, but this is the rare blockbuster built almost entirely from real locations and practical effects, and both critics and audiences agree it delivers. If you enjoyed it, our guides to Sinners and Project Hail Mary cover two more big-screen originals.