Christopher Nolan’s epic action drama The Odyssey pulled in an estimated $87 million during its second weekend in North American theaters, marking a modest 30% drop and securing filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s best second weekend ever, not accounting for inflation. Globally, the release reached $639.6 million.
Box Office Momentum and International Milestones
The Odyssey continued to dominate domestic and international markets in late July 2026. Following a staggering domestic opening weekend of $124 million, the film held strong with its $87 million second-frame take in the U.S. and Canada. Globally, the second weekend brought in an estimated total of $639.6 million. In 2008, The Dark Knight
earned $75.2 million in weekend two.
That would be an impressive opening weekend for any film,
said Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends. This is a testament to the outpouring of excitement and enthusiasm that moviegoers are having for Christopher Nolan’s latest epic.
Internationally, the film collected $128.3 million during its second frame. Theaters around the world are adding showtimes to try to meet the demand, Dergarabedian said.
IMAX Dominance and Premium Format Demand
Premium large format screens drove a significant share of the global earnings. IMAX screens alone accounted for $48 million of the global earnings this weekend. Most of those showtimes are sold out through September, the company said. Overall, IMAX screens accounted for a substantial share of the global total, with IMAX screens alone accounting for $48 million of the global earnings this weekend.
The Classicist Translation Surge and Publishing Phenomenon
Beyond cinema screens, the cinematic release ignited renewed public interest in the source material, sending related books soaring up Amazon’s bestseller charts. Currently at No. 7 on Amazon’s bestseller charts, Emily Wilson’s translation—the first English translation of The Odyssey by a woman—is trending online thanks to the blockbuster. Classics scholar Emily Wilson was in Greece’s Costa Navarino last year when she heard the news that would change her life: Filmmaker Christopher Nolan was planning to release a star-studded adaptation of The Odyssey, the epic poem that Wilson had spent years painstakingly translating from Homeric Greek into English. Nolan’s film crew, Wilson learned, had just left the Greek town where she was now staying. As she walked along the beach, the University of Pennsylvania professor imagined what scenes of adventure had been conjured on the ground where she stood, such as the seductively scary sirens calling out to Odysseus or the giant Cyclops who eats his men (shot at Nestor’s Cave in nearby Messenia). Nolan’s film was a thrilling prospect for the classicist who made her name penning a quick-paced and strikingly contemporary translation of the nearly 3,000-year-old epic for modern audiences. While the Oppenheimer director wrote his own version for the big screen, along with partner-collaborator Emma Thomas, he has cited several translations, including Wilson’s, as references.
It’s great that there’s going to be a whole new wave of people who may not have thought much about The Odyssey, may not even be familiar with the narrative, who may then get excited about it, because Christopher Nolan is a big name,
said Wilson, who lives in West Philly with her partner, David Foreman, a Swarthmore College administrator, her two younger daughters, Psyche and Freya, their cats, Pumpkin and Spice, and their dog, Pepper.
Competitive Summer Landscape and Next Weekend’s Challenges
There was no significant new competition this weekend or last. Regardless, the second weekend earnings is rare for a movie that opened over $100 million. For an R-rated movie, it’s second only to Deadpool & Wolverine.
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 surpassed $1 billion in its fifth weekend, with $448 million from domestic theaters and $573 million from international screens. It’s the sixth Pixar film to hit the milestone. But the open waters will become a little more crowded next weekend when audiences get another blockbuster option with Spider-Man: Brand New Day,
which shares actors Tom Holland and Zendaya with “The Odyssey.” Some analysts say that “Spider-Man” could net the biggest opening weekend of the year.
