While “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has been making the biggest waves of recent, another milestone took place this month as Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey,” which also features Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal, has finally crossed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office with $1.104 billion (and counting), and becomes the director’s biggest box office succeces, even suprpassing the money made on “The Dark Knight Rises” back in 2012 (his Dark Knight trilogy capper raking in a hefty $1.085 billion).
This is a huge deal for Nolan, as having one of his original films, loosely based on Homer’s epic poem, make this much money assures the filmmaker won’t have much trouble getting his next couple of films bankrolled, whatever they might be (said to be “at least” three years away). What is going to be apparent to most is that between “Oppenheimer” (the R-rated atomic drama tallying an impressive $976 million) and now “The Odyssey,” Universal Pictures is likely going to keep their lucrative working relationship going for the foreseeable future (hard to imagine seeing that change anytime soon).
Another impressive number detailed by outlets like The Hollywood Reporter is that Nolan’s movie earned $289.3 million from IMAX screenings, becoming the highest-grossing IMAX release of all time. A new notch in the director’s belt, alongside the second-highest-grossing R-rated film, just behind Marvel‘s “Deadpool & Wolverine” from 2024.
Also, the success here for Nolan, Universal, and “The Odyssey” becomes a major rebuke to all the online divisiveness about the film’s diverse casting and “wokeness,” egged on by notable wealthy racist dolt Elon Musk, who seemed to be under the impression the fictional tale was some sort of historical event. Even though it features MANY fictional characters (including demi-god Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus, who never existed), a witch, monsters, a giant cyclops, and was crafted three thousand years ago, to the point nobody even knows if Homer was a real person or just a name attributed to the tale.
Of course, Nolan had his own choice words for all that right-wing backlash when directly asked about it by The Telegraph, stating, “These conversations that happen before people see the film – they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet.” In the end, the audience and critics have spoken, and the movie is now expected to be in the running for a slew of awards, becoming one of the early top-dog Oscar contenders for Best Picture and acting nominations for the stellar performances.
The summer’s not over yet, and we suspect there will be some attempt to sneak past the “Deadpool & Wolverine” total of $1.338 billion, even if that seems like a window that is slowly closing as newer releases gobble up screens over August and September.
