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Why Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Blew Everyone Away At The Box Office
Why Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Blew Everyone Away At The Box Office
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0:00
We all knew the Odyssey was going to be
0:02
big. We should have expected it to be
0:03
mythical. Here's how Chris Nolan ended
0:05
up at the head of the summer hype train
0:07
once again. 3 2 1. Leading up to the
0:12
official release, it was reported by
0:13
Empire City box office that pre-sales
0:15
for the movie had surged. So much so
0:17
that the global opening was forecasted
0:19
to reach almost $250 million. Talk about
0:22
fulfilling a prophecy. If anyone was
0:24
going to achieve a box office
0:25
performance of this magnitude, it was
0:27
always going to be Nolan. As one of the
0:29
most respected filmmakers of his
0:30
generation and this [music] century,
0:32
it's not shocking at all that he was
0:33
able to generate this level of hype. But
0:35
it's not just Nolan's reputation that
0:37
guaranteed success for the Odyssey. The
0:39
timing of the release was also a major
0:41
contributing factor. The summer
0:42
blockbuster, first cemented in pop
0:44
culture [music] by Steven Spielberg's
0:45
Jaws in 1975, has been a Hollywood
0:48
tradition ever since, and Nolan has
0:50
increasingly become adamant about
0:51
cashing in on the built-in hype that
0:53
comes with it as he continues [music] to
0:54
build his career. The results have been
0:56
staggeringly positive. For instance,
0:58
after dropping The Dark Knight in mid
1:00
July in 2008, the film went on to earn
1:02
over a billion dollars against a budget
1:04
of about $185 million. Inception, also
1:07
released in mid July just 2 years later,
1:10
earned almost $840 million against a
1:12
budget of $160 million. 2012's The Dark
1:15
Knight Rises and 2017's Dunkirk were
1:18
also immensely successful following
1:20
their midsummer debuts. So, it only
1:22
makes sense that the Odyssey would
1:23
follow suit this time around and put up
1:25
legendary numbers at the box office over
1:27
its opening weekend. Let's go.
1:32
Not only that, the reviews that
1:33
accompany these earnings are some of the
1:35
best Nolan has ever received over the
1:37
course of his career. That's really
1:38
saying something since literally every
1:40
one of his films has been received well
1:42
[music] critically. Even Tenant, which
1:44
dropped during COVID and more or less
1:45
confused us just as much as it wowed us.
1:48
David [music] Fear, writing for Rolling
1:49
Stone, gushed, "What you tend to walk
1:50
away with after bearing witness to the
1:52
Odyssey, arguably Christopher Nolan's
1:54
best work after 2017's Dunkirk, is an
1:57
overall sensation of all. It is one of
1:59
the most dynamic movies in recent
2:00
memory, giving the Odyssey a 10 out of
2:02
10." Brent Hkins wrote for the Lamplight
2:05
Review, "I went into this film bracing
2:06
myself for a handsomely mounted
2:08
spectacle. What I found instead was
2:10
proof that Nolan remains one of the only
2:11
directors left who can turn a film into
2:13
an honest to god event." In his review
2:15
for The Atlantic, David Sims said,
2:17
"Nolan delivers at rarest breed of
2:19
blockbuster with the Odyssey, a visual
2:20
extravaganza shot entirely on IMAX and
2:23
best seen projected onto a mountainized
2:25
screen. Yet, the movie manages to be a
2:27
challenging [music] personal work, too.
2:28
These are just a few blurbs from a
2:30
seemingly endless array of rapturous
2:32
reviews. With praise like that coaxing
2:34
people into theaters worldwide, it's not
2:36
surprising that Nolan was able to break
2:38
records at the box office yet again.
2:40
Nolan has come a long way since he first
2:42
burst onto the scene with following in
2:44
1998. He's mastered the art of the
2:46
thriller. He's learned to bend minds in
2:48
ways that feel satisfying, even when you
2:50
don't totally get what he's going for.
2:52
He's managed to make hella good
2:53
superhero movies that appeal to people
2:55
outside the usual comic book fandom. The
2:57
dude was even able to make the highest
2:58
grossing World War II film ever before
3:00
breaking his own record with another one
3:02
less than a decade later, which as we
3:05
all know ended up being way better than
3:07
it had the right to be. Seriously, if
3:09
the guy can make a three-hour long
3:10
biopic about a long deadad theoretical
3:12
physicist engaging, there's [music]
3:14
pretty much nothing he can't do.
3:16
>> What do you want for theory alone?
3:18
>> This is why we didn't need the Oracle of
3:20
Delelfi to tell us that the Odyssey was
3:22
destined [music] to perform well at the
3:23
box office. Following the overwhelming,
3:25
and let's be real, surprising success of
3:28
a movie like Oppenheimer, audiences
3:30
around the world were basically begging
3:32
for more. And when we first found out
3:34
that he would be dedicating all of his
3:35
energy and resources to a sweeping new
3:37
vision of a beloved epic that involves
3:39
the fall of Troy, mythical creatures,
3:40
and all sorts of IMAX worthy eye candy,
3:43
yeah, he pretty much had us at hello.
3:45
All the trailers and hype that followed
3:47
only confirmed what everyone was already
3:48
feeling. As we all know, summer
3:51
blockbusters are by no means guaranteed
3:53
to be successful, especially in the age
3:55
of streaming.
3:56
>> Promise me you will come back.
3:59
>> What if I can't? As noted by Finance
4:01
Buzz, there was a 61% decrease in summer
4:04
blockbusters that earned over $und00
4:06
million in 2022 when compared to numbers
4:08
from a decade earlier. Ouch. And even if
4:11
they do end up surpassing $100 million,
4:14
it means nothing if their budgets are
4:15
too outlandish. Expensive movies like
4:18
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part
4:19
One and Indiana Jones and the Dial of
4:21
Destiny are perfect examples of this.
4:23
While they're both easily marketable
4:25
installments of well-established
4:26
franchises, [music] they were considered
4:28
to be duds at the box office a year
4:30
later in 2023. All thanks to how much it
4:32
cost to make them in the first place.
4:34
Dialis of Destiny was especially bad. It
4:36
only earned $384 [music]
4:38
million against a budget of a whopping
4:40
$419 million. The fact that Nolan has
4:43
been able to find success with both
4:44
familiar intellectual properties like
4:46
Batman and his own standalone stories
4:49
speaks volumes about his ability to snap
4:51
us out of our Netflix induced stupers
4:53
and inspire us to have an actual
4:54
experience at the movie theater. And by
4:57
us, we really mean all of us. Unlike an
5:00
MCU movie or something like Dune, the
5:02
Odyssey appeals to pretty much everyone.
5:04
Consider it through the lens of age
5:06
demographics. Young people love a good
5:08
spectacle. Older folks are suckers for a
5:10
solid retelling of a story they all know
5:12
and love or consider it in terms of
5:13
gender. Men will never not enjoy a good
5:16
battle scene or a slowb burn buildup
5:17
towards an epic faceoff. [music] Women
5:19
are likewise happy when a film gives the
5:21
women complexity and doesn't reduce them
5:23
to eye candy and/or cheap plot devices
5:25
that exist just to motivate male leads.
5:27
[music] However you choose to look at
5:28
it, the Odyssey has what the industry
5:30
refers to as the four quadrant appeal.
5:32
Men and women over 25 and men and women
5:35
under 25 are all just as likely to watch
5:38
Odysius make his way home to his family.
5:39
[music] It's a famously hard balance to
5:41
achieve, and Nolan managed it with a
5:43
plum this time around, just like he did
5:45
with Oppenheimer.
5:46
>> Bringing [music] vengeance,
5:50
bringing it all.
5:52
>> Beyond this metric, there are others
5:53
that explain why Nolan's movies continue
5:55
to find unparalleled success.
5:57
Referencing numbers provided by
5:59
Greenlight Analytics, The Observer
6:00
compared audience engagement leading up
6:02
to the release of Oppenheimer to that of
6:04
four other recent historical epics made
6:06
by bigname directors: Napoleon, Ferrari,
6:09
Nerburgg, and Gladiator 2. With its
6:12
awareness level sitting at 53% and its
6:14
theatrical intent sitting at 47% in the
6:17
days before it dropped, it easily bested
6:19
the first three in both categories.
6:21
Gladiator 2 was able to match Nolan's
6:23
Epic in terms of awareness, but didn't
6:25
come close when it came to intent. as
6:27
evidenced by its much less
6:28
groundbreaking box office numbers. The
6:30
Odyssey, meanwhile, has matched or
6:32
outperformed Oenheimer in almost every
6:34
way. In the days leading up to its
6:36
release, its opening weekend intent
6:38
metric rose by 17.4%.
6:41
While its premium large format metric,
6:43
which tracks an audience's willingness
6:44
to pay extra to see IMAX or 4K
6:47
screenings, rose by 3.4%. Take note that
6:50
people have also been willing to travel
6:51
long distances to pay those higher
6:53
ticket prices. As noted by the Observer,
6:55
these stats suggest that Nolan's movies
6:57
aren't just movies. They're events. Like
6:59
the days of Yore, when a magician coming
7:01
to town was the event of the season,
7:03
audiences engaged with Nolan on a level
7:04
that few of his peers have been able to
7:06
match.
7:07
>> No one could stand between me and home.
7:10
>> But what about Nolan's work actually
7:12
drives this level of engagement? Fans
7:14
and the actors who work with Nolan will
7:16
all probably tell you the same thing.
7:18
Nolan is a real filmmaker, meaning he
7:20
goes out of his way to produce his
7:22
movies in ways that often require more
7:23
work, money, and passion than your
7:25
average blockbuster. Notably, the
7:27
Odyssey is the first narrative film shot
7:29
exclusively with an IMAX film camera, a
7:31
device that presents a wide array of
7:33
difficulties in exchange for a higher
7:35
quality image. [music] For instance,
7:36
they're apparently so loud that it's
7:38
impossible to shoot uplose dialogue
7:40
scenes with them. In a recent interview
7:42
with GQ, Matt Damon touched on Nolan's
7:44
methods and how he thinks the Odyssey is
7:46
the end of an era, mostly due [music] to
7:47
advancements in the realm of AI, which
7:49
is already having profound effects on
7:51
Hollywood. He [music] said, "It was a
7:53
really weird movie for me personally in
7:55
the sense that I had almost a nostalgic
7:56
feeling the entire time I was making
7:58
[music] it because it felt like the
7:59
movies when I started working, and I
8:01
know that that's going away. I knew that
8:02
this was the last chance I was going to
8:04
have to [music] do something like this.
8:05
I don't think people are going to be
8:06
given the resources to shoot movies that
8:08
way for much longer. that world is gone.
8:11
>> But Nolan respectfully disagreed with
8:13
that sentiment in an interview with The
8:15
Telegraph, [music] saying, "I think I
8:16
know what Damon was driving at because
8:18
it does seem like a long time since
8:19
somebody made a film like this in this
8:21
type of way, where you [music] travel
8:22
the world, get together a cast of
8:24
thousands, and so on." But there's a
8:26
defeist aspect of viewing it that way
8:28
that I don't agree with. I think cinema
8:29
is vital and essential and continues to
8:32
transform itself. We've got all these
8:33
great new young voices in movies, making
8:35
the medium their own and moving it
8:37
forward. Those new young voices he
8:39
referenced are Cain Parsons, the
8:40
director of Back Rooms, and Curry
8:42
Barker, who made Obsession. Both films
8:44
set box office records earlier this year
8:46
and support Nolan's theory that there is
8:48
still a hunger for authentic human-made
8:49
work among the masses. Turns out people
8:52
really do respond to filmmakers [music]
8:53
who actually tangibly care about what
8:55
they're doing. Of course, no amount of
8:57
hype or industry prestige can save a
8:59
movie from bad acting. So, it comes as
9:01
no surprise that Nolan put just as much
9:03
thought into casting as he did with all
9:05
other aspects of the film. The movie is
9:07
absolutely stacked with talent. [music]
9:09
So much so that saying the Odyssey has
9:11
an ensemble cast is almost an
9:13
understatement.
9:15
>> You feel that? Do you feel it?
9:16
>> Yeah, I take a little bit of that.
9:18
[laughter]
9:19
>> Matt Damon, who took a break from his
9:21
usual leading man duties in Oppenheimer,
9:22
brought just the right amount of star
9:24
power to the main role. This time
9:25
around, Nolan needed someone with
9:27
universal appeal who's just as
9:28
comfortable acting in a goofy family
9:30
drama as he is playing the part of a
9:32
deadly assassin, or in this case, a
9:34
grizzled Greek warrior king. and few can
9:36
deliver better than Damon in that
9:38
regard. He straight up kills it as
9:40
Odysius. Simple as [music] that. Zenaia,
9:42
meanwhile, is one of those actors who
9:44
manages to be everywhere without making
9:46
people sick of her. After seeing her as
9:48
Athena, it's hard to imagine anyone else
9:50
trying to pull it off. Zena's hubby Tom
9:52
Holland brings his specific brand of
9:53
fragility to the character of Tmicus.
9:56
And we're honestly amazed by how he
9:57
manages to call Matt Damon daddy without
9:59
making it weird. [music] and Robert
10:00
Patson. Holy, this guy was born to creep
10:04
on Odysius's family while he's away.
10:06
After watching him knock the role of
10:07
Antininoisu out of the park, we wouldn't
10:09
mind it if he veers off into the realm
10:10
of villain more often in the future.
10:13
[music]
10:13
>> They're pining for a daddy he didn't
10:15
even know, like some sniveling bastard.
10:19
>> Seriously though, every last big name on
10:21
the call sheet, they all did their part
10:22
to make the Odyssey as special as it can
10:24
possibly be. But it's not just the
10:26
acting itself that played a part in
10:27
ensuring the Odyssey was a success. The
10:30
marketing aspect was just as important.
10:32
In the months leading up to the film's
10:33
release, these [music] actors were
10:34
literally everywhere using their star
10:36
power to draw fans in. Even the world's
10:39
most recognizable faces need to make an
10:41
effort in The Year of Our Lord 2026,
10:43
[music] lest they be buried by the
10:44
algorithm. Lastly, we would be remiss to
10:47
not mention one of the most obvious
10:49
reasons The Odyssey found massive
10:50
success at the box [music] office.
10:52
Homer's Epic is one of the most studied
10:54
and highly regarded works of literature
10:56
in all of human history. Add to that the
10:58
fact that none other than Christopher
10:59
Nolan, who is himself quite revered,
11:01
brought the story to life, and you can't
11:03
argue that huge box office returns were
11:05
[music] basically written in the stars.
11:07
Of course, this is far from the first
11:08
time that someone has adapted Homer's
11:10
work. From old films like 1911's Loicia
11:13
or 1956's [music] Helen of Troy to the
11:16
Cohen brothers Oh Brother, Where Art
11:17
Thou? Many have attempted to do the
11:19
ancient tale justice. We can argue
11:21
[music] about their respective merits
11:22
all day, but one thing is for certain.
11:24
No one has ever realized it on the scale
11:26
that Nolan has, and it's almost
11:28
unthinkable to imagine someone managing
11:30
to outdo him at some point in the
11:31
future. Unless we're talking about that
11:33
AI adaptation that's in the works,
11:34
right? Just kidding. That thing belongs
11:36
in the recycle bin. Like all the critics
11:38
who've been screaming its praises from
11:40
the rooftops for this past week, we
11:42
implore you to head to the theater and
11:44
see Nolan's latest offering on the
11:46
biggest screen possible. Whether it's an
11:47
IMAX theater or just your regular small
11:50
town joint, you won't be disappointed.
