Odyssey blows up the international box office with a $264m opening | The Odyssey

The Odyssey has taken the world box office by storm, taking US$264m (£196m, A$378m) in its opening weekend, according to studio Universal Pictures.

Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Zendaya, the blockbuster is based on the ancient Greek poem by Homer, which follows Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he makes his perilous 10-year journey home after fighting the Trojan War.

Released on Friday, the adaptation fared better than Nolan’s blockbuster 2023. Oppenheimerwhich ended up making $975m at the worldwide box office.

Nolan’s adaptation of the 2,700-year-old poem is said to have cost $250m (£185m), with the filmmaker saying he was only given the chance to do it because of financial constraints and Oppenheimer’s difficulties.

Odyssey is Nolan’s best opener outside of the Batman franchise. His 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises it opened worldwide with US$249m in 2012or US$362m when adjusted for inflation.

In North America alone, The Odyssey made $124.5m, the third biggest opening of the year after two family films: Toy Story 5 ($159m) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131m), interesting given The Odyssey’s R rating limits the audience that can see it.

Universal Pictures originally projected a $100m opening weekend in North America. There, men make up 56% of the population and more than three-quarters of ticket buyers older than 25. Half of the film’s audience was between the ages of 18 and 34.

The UK and Ireland took the top spot in the region with the biggest advantage in the world – with $12.9m (US$17.4m) in three days.

The Odyssey is the first feature film to be shot entirely with Imax cameras – the most powerful and high-performance camera systems that capture vivid, bright and high-quality images.

Screens of the film sold out at the BFI Imax cinema in London over the weekend, with fans arriving between midnight and 4am to watch the film.

Odyssey was released worldwide in 73 markets over the weekend and screened in over 12,800 locations and 26,000 screens worldwide, including 440 Imax screens. In North America, “big screen”, which includes Imax, accounts for 53% of the box office.

Nolan recently told Today that “it will be” three years until he makes another movie, due to the difficulties of shooting The Odyssey.

“I’m willing to spend time with nothing to do,” He told the Guardian. “I’ve felt it for a long time since I had a moment like that. It’s true – I get tired quickly and that’s one of the reasons I like to go back to work. I’m restless. At the moment, all I can do is try to get through this, stop the film and rest a little.”

Odyssey was hailed as Nolan’s “best film to date” in critical acclaim and stars Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton and Charlize Theron.

The Press Association contributed to this report