The Odyssey Hits Huge Box Office Milestone Amid Neck-And-Neck Race Toward $1 Billion

Aug 02, 2026 - 19:14
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The Odyssey Hits Huge Box Office Milestone Amid Neck-And-Neck Race Toward $1 Billion
Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, and Robert Pattinson wearing sunglasses during a London photocall for The Odyssey Credit: Jordan PettittPA Images/INSTARimages

Published Aug 2, 2026, 11:34 AM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

The Odyssey has sailed past another huge box office milestone.

2026's The Odyssey is a new adaptation of Homer's epic poem of the same name that was written and directed by two-time Oscar winner Christopher Nolan. The movie, which features a star-studded cast that includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, and Robert Pattinson, has become a bona fide box office phenomenon since its debut on July 17. In addition to earning the best domestic debut for a non-Batman movie, it is set to earn the director's best third-weekend domestic result ever.

Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, The Odyssey is projected to end its third weekend in theaters by hitting a cumulative global box office gross of $911 million, comprising $395.5 million from domestic theaters and an additional $515 million from international markets. This makes it just the fourth 2026 release to pass the $900 million global milestone, after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Michael, and Toy Story 5.

While it seems certain that The Odyssey will follow that trio of titles past the billion-dollar milestone before long, it might not become the fourth 2026 movie to earn $1 billion. It is now in a neck-and-neck race with the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which debuted at No. 1 this weekend and is expected to launch with a global haul of $927 million (which is the second-biggest global debut in history behind Avengers: Endgame) that sees it rocketing toward the billion-dollar milestone at a speed that the Christopher Nolan movie might not be able to match.

While it ultimately seems like Spider-Man: Brand New Day's steeper trajectory will make it the quicker billion-dollar hit, The Odyssey will join it before long. It could very well happen by the end of its fourth weekend in theaters. The movie has shown strong audience retention, which has allowed it to continue leaping up the chart. In fact, before its third weekend began, it had only earned roughly $700 million worldwide, so it has surged an additional $200 million or so in just three days.

It has managed to do so in spite of the fact that Spider-Man has taken over many of the theaters in which it was originally playing. Because there are no new action-adventure tentpoles opening next weekend (the biggest movie is the high-concept romantic comedy One Night Only), neither movie should face direct competition from a third tentpole, which could allow The Odyssey to pass the billion-dollar milestone by the end of next Sunday.

Even if it's the slower title to pass the billion-dollar milestone, it has already proven itself as a huge success. In addition to The Odyssey reviews earning it stellar Rotten Tomatoes scores of 94% from critics and 97% from audiences, it has already more than surpassed its estimated break-even point of $625 million (which is two and a half times its reported budget of $250 million). Plus, its huge box office gross is all the more impressive because it is not attached to a huge pre-existing film franchise like Spider-Man.

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Release Date July 15, 2026

Runtime 173 minutes

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