Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” Passes $1.7 Billion: Universal’s First Film to Reach the Milestone

LOS ANGELES – “The Odyssey,” Christopher Nolan’s epic produced by Universal Pictures, has crossed the historic $1.7 billion mark in global box office, becoming the first film in the studio’s history to reach that figure. According to box office tracker Kalshi Film, the threshold was crossed on September 19, 2026, with the news reported by FictionHorizon.

Beyond the global record, the film has also become Universal’s first to surpass $1.1 billion in international gross — both all-time records for the studio.

Universal Pictures officially announced on September 12 (per Deadline) that “The Odyssey” had become the highest-grossing film in studio history at $1.684 billion — $601.2 million in North America and $1.083 billion internationally — overtaking 2015’s “Jurassic World” ($1.677 billion).

The records don’t stop there: it is the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, surpassing “Deadpool & Wolverine”; the biggest IMAX launch of all time; the first non-sequel to earn over $1 billion internationally since 2009’s “Avatar”; and the highest-grossing film of Nolan’s career, surpassing “The Dark Knight Rises.”

The film opened on July 17, 2026 with $123.5 million in North America — the biggest opening of Nolan’s career. In its eighth weekend, it dropped just 9% and reclaimed first place at the U.S. box office, a rare hold for a blockbuster of this scale.

Matt Damon plays Odysseus, in a star-studded cast that includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron. The epic, based on Homer’s poem, is the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX film cameras and reportedly cost $250 million.

Photo: Georges Biard / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Source: FictionHorizon