Christopher Nolan made a name for himself as one of the most consistent hitmakers in Hollywood. However, even judged against past standards, The Odyssey hascome out on top: this weekend, it became Nolan’s highest-grossing film of all time. It cleared $1.1 billion at the global box office, beating out The Dark Knight Rises’ $1.08 billion (not adjusted for inflation).
What’s more, The Odyssey is nowhere near the end of its run. The movie has maintained an impressively low week-to-week falloff for a blockbuster, raking in $110 million domestically in its fourth weekend. It hasn’t opened in China yet, a massive film market.
At over $7 billion in total worldwide box office gross, Christopher Nolan is now the third highest-grossing director of all time, behind only James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. While this ranking isn’t adjusted for inflation, the feat is still quite impressive considering Nolan still almost certainly has quite a few more films in him.
However, this wasn’t the only milestone The Odyssey broke over the weekend. It also became IMAX’s highest-grossing release ever at $289 million, overtaking Avatar’s $271 million. 14 percent of that IMAX gross has come from 70mm showings, which is very impressive given only 41 theaters in the world are capable of that format. The movie’s popularity in IMAX theaters and 70mm specifically is undoubtedly part of its box office staying power. As for other accolades, The Odyssey is currently the second highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, behind only Deadpool and Wolverine’s $1.3 billion, which it has a real chance at eclipsing.
Alongside Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has already hit $1.67 billion, The Odyssey has helped make 2026 a comeback year for the film industry. The domestic box office is well on its way to a $10 billion year for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a shot at becoming the first film to ever hit $1 billion at the domestic box office as well as the first to hit $3 billion worldwide. Beyond blockbusters, several independent movies have surpassed expectations, including Obsession and Backrooms, which both earned many orders of magnitude more than their budgets. It seems the death of cinema was greatly exaggerated.
