‘The Odyssey’ Box Office Estimates Are In, And They Are Near-Record High

The Odyssey

Universal

We have gone through several rounds of The Odyssey early reviews at this point, though officially scored critic ones have not come in just yet. But now the focus is turning toward how much this movie will actually make, and forecasts for its initial weekend are here.

Via Deadline, estimates for The Odyssey’s opening weekend are $85-$100 million domestically, with $110 million overseas for what should be a $200 million global opening weekend, at least. How does that compare to other film’s in Nolan’s roster? Well, it would be his highest opening for any of his films outside of his second and third Batman releases. Here’s the breakdown:

• The Odyssey - $85-$100 million projected
• Oppenheimer - $82 million
• Tenet - $20 million
• Dunkirk - $50 million
• Interstellar - $47 million
• The Dark Knight Rises - $160 million
• Inception - $62 million
• The Dark Knight - $158 million
• The Prestige - $14 million
• Batman Begins - $48 million
• Insomnia - $20 million
• Memento - $235,000

We don’t know if The Odyssey could be under- or over-estimated, but if we’re putting it at least somewhat on par with Oppenheimer, that film went on to make $975 million worldwide. All early indications are that The Odyssey is very good, which may help word of mouth and for the film to have more legs than usual. You could also argue that an epic mythological adventure might be more appealing to general audiences than a biopic about Robert Oppenheimer, however good that was.

With a reported $250 million budget, the film's financial success is almost guaranteed, and it could recoup nearly all of that in its opening weekend. Nolan, interestingly, finished on time and under-budget, it’s said. He’s a pro.

There is an online movement that has pushed back against The Odyssey from the start, mainly decrying supposed “woke” casting choices like Elliot Page and Lupita Nyong’o, and it comes with the prediction that, surely, audiences rejecting it will lead to a flop. There is zero evidence that is going to be the case, and so far, it’s the opposite, from what we can tell. Perhaps I shouldn’t make my own prediction, but I believe that The Odyssey could hit a billion, and on top of that, like Oppenheimer, be a major player come awards season.

We will start seeing the first numbers for Thursday previews on Friday, then go from there. An additional factor to consider here is that many moviegoers are pursuing seeing the film in true IMAX, which has led to sold-out shows for literal weeks at some theaters because of that. Big-screen purchases, with higher cost, could factor into all this here as well.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.