Box office shake: The Odyssey bumps the biggest Harry Potter movie ever

Christopher Nolan does love breaking a record, doesn’t he? The Odyssey, his sprawling, rather unorthodox take on Homer, keeps overturning every bean-counting milestone you can name – and it’s done it off the back of an R rating, nearly three hours’ runtime, and absolutely no franchise safety net.

The Odyssey overtook Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 with $1.54 billion at the worldwide box office.

Shattering the R-rated Ceiling

This week’s big headline: The Odyssey just leapt past Deadpool & Wolverine to become the biggest-grossing R-rated film in history. Even Ryan Reynolds, never one to miss an opportunity for a meme, offered up a congrats to Nolan’s lot with one of his Honda Odyssey quips on Instagram – and, fair play, he actually meant it. That makes The Odyssey the reigning king of the R-rated bunch, at least for now.

But Nolan’s latest hasn’t stopped there. Domestically, it’s about to outdo The Dark Knight, who until now kept the crown for Nolan’s own box office triumphs on home turf. At this point, the only thing in its way is the rest of Hollywood’s release calendar.

Bigger Than Potter

Hidden beneath all that news is a number that should probably be getting more attention: The Odyssey has now officially outgrossed the biggest Harry Potter film ever. According to Box Office Mojo, it’s currently sitting on $1,539,265,685 worldwide, landing it fourteenth on the all-time list. For comparison, the supposed untouchable in this category – Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – racked up $1.34 billion back in 2011. That was the high-water mark for a saga which, let’s not forget, was worth $7.7 billion by the end. For a decade after it opened, the Potter finale was what every studio pointed to as proof that milking a franchise could pay off handsomely in the end.

What makes it properly odd – and I’d say a bit brilliant – is that The Odyssey managed all that with no multiverse, no superhero cameos, no branded butterbeer. It overtook not just Potter, but also the original Avengers and Furious 7 on the same chart. All that without building on an established cinematic universe.

The IMAX Advantage (and a Few Asterisks)

It’s worth noting The Odyssey is first ever filmed entirely using IMAX 70mm cameras, which definitely helped; on that front, it’s now IMAX’s biggest release globally, even topping Avatar in premium ticket sales. For those who get excited about format wars, that’s a chart-topper worth flagging.

But before anyone gets too giddy about box office “records,” context matters. There’s 15 years’ worth of ticket price inflation separating The Odyssey from Deathly Hallows Part 2. If you adjust for that, Hogwarts still sold quite a bit more actual tickets. And Potter was boosted by 3D surcharges, back when every blockbuster got shoved through that lens. As ever, the official “biggest of all time” list quietly favours whatever’s currently in cinemas. But, right or wrong, it’s the number the business side quotes, and by that measure, Nolan’s managed to muscle into some pretty heavy company.

What’s Still to Come?

The Odyssey is still fighting for attention in a properly busy summer. It’s hanging on to a decent chunk of screens even against the latest Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which itself has already rocketed past $2 billion worldwide. For reference, The Lion King remake – perhaps the next plausible milestone – is about $120 million further up at $1.66 billion. That’s a tall order for an original-ish property this late in the game, but a finish in that ballpark isn’t impossible given the film’s staying power so far.