'The Odyssey' storms box office with $51 million opening day

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” pulled in $51 million on its opening day Friday from 3,989 North American theaters, putting the sword-and-sandal epic on pace to blow past early projections and become one of the biggest debuts of the year, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Tracking had pegged the film’s opening weekend at $90 million to $100 million, but the strong Friday haul pushed forecasts as high as $120 million. That would make “The Odyssey” the third film in 2026 to clear the $100 million mark, trailing only “Toy Story 5” ($159 million) and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million). An opening in that range would mark Mr. Nolan’s best since “The Dark Knight Rises,” which debuted to $160 million in 2012. The film’s Friday gross alone already exceeds the entire opening weekend of Mr. Nolan’s 2014 film “Interstellar” ($47.5 million), and weekend projections for “The Odyssey” surpass the $82 million opening of his 2023 best picture winner, “Oppenheimer,” which went on to gross $975 million worldwide. Universal poured $250 million into the production, which was shot entirely on IMAX cameras — a first for a studio tentpole. Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, leading a cast that includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal and John Leguizamo. The film earned a $51 million opening day from 3,989 theaters, including $17.6 million in Thursday previews, according to TheWrap, putting it on pace for one of the biggest R-rated openings in domestic box office history. Disney’s live-action “Moana” landed at No. 2 with $5.5 million Friday, on pace for about $19 million through the weekend — a 56% drop from its soft $43 million opening. Analysts have estimated the film could ultimately lose around $100 million for Disney if theatrical performance doesn’t improve, though Disney has recovered from soft openings before: 2024’s “Mufasa” bowed to $34 million before climbing to $722 million worldwide. Rounding out the top five, Universal’s “Minions & Monsters” took third with $4.3 million Friday and a projected $136 million domestic total through three weekends on an $85 million budget. “Toy Story 5” placed fourth with $4.2 million, pushing its five-week domestic haul toward $429 million, while Warner Bros.’ “Evil Dead Burn” closed out the top five with $1.4 million Friday and a projected $23 million domestic total. This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times' AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times' original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com. Story Topics