Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey sails to $15 million in previews — did it live up to the hype?

Here we go again: Christopher Nolan turns up with a film, and the box office immediately starts humming. This time, it’s The Odyssey, and it’s made a right splash with preview-night takings that ought to make any studio boss giddy.

According to the early figures floating about, The Odyssey hauled in $15 million just from Thursday night previews. Put that in context: that’s the biggest live-action opening night of the year, breezing past this year’s other heavyweight, Michael, which started with $12.6 million. Nolan’s own previous effort, Oppenheimer, managed $10.5 million on its preview night, eventually landing an $82 million opening weekend. If you’re a numbers geek, you’ll spot that only The Dark Knight Rises ($30.6 million) and the original The Dark Knight ($18.5 million) have done better on their first night out of all Nolan’s films. Not bad for a bloke whose scripts often require a notebook and a flask of tea to keep up.

Can it go the distance?

Now, the real question: how high can The Odyssey actually climb? There’s a bit of modesty going around — some people, myself included, wondered if $90 million was a big enough estimate for its first weekend. With numbers like these, that figure might turn out to be laughably low, though it’s still early days. The preview night result is basically on par with what Black Panther: Wakanda Forever managed (that movie ended up with $181 million for its opening), but let’s be realistic — The Odyssey is unlikely to match that pace. It’s running well over two hours, is rated R, and is angled more towards older audiences, so you probably won’t get pre-teens dragging their mates along in droves.

Nolan’s Films Tend to Stick Around

What might work in its favour is Nolan’s reliably long box office tail. Oppenheimer wound up with $330 million in the US, nearly a billion dollars globally. There’s a fair shout that The Odyssey could beat that domestically if the good reviews hold up and people keep buying tickets past week two.

It needs to do big numbers, too: with a production budget of $250 million and, once you factor in the marketing supermarket run, probably around $700 million worldwide just to break even. Given this start, it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

For the (Box Office) Stat Nerds

• The Odyssey Preview Night: $15 million
• Biggest Live-Action Preview of 2026
• Beats: Michael ($12.6m), Oppenheimer ($10.5m)
• Nolan’s Only Higher: The Dark Knight Rises ($30.6m), The Dark Knight ($18.5m)
• Needs About: $700 million worldwide to turn a profit
• Oppenheimer (for comparison): $330m domestic, $975m worldwide

What’s the Verdict So Far?

The Odyssey hasn’t exactly had an easy run up to release; there’s been endless scrutiny from all corners, as tends to happen when Nolan is attached. Personally, I was in the ‘liked it’ camp — there’s an update to my ‘Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked’ coming for those of you compelled to disagree. Curious what everyone else made of it? Poll’s open.