SATURDAY AM: Refresh for more analysis and chart…Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey remains on course for the best live-action feature debut this year at the North American box office to date with $120.5M after Friday/previews of $51.2M.
Overseas, The Odyssey is bound for $137.3M in 73 markets bringing its global opening to $257.8M, which is the third highest opening YTD after Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($372.5M) and Toy Story 5 ($312M). In like for likes, it’s Nolan’s biggest global opening ever ahead of The Dark Knight Rises ($198M) and Oppenheimer ($180M).
The Universal theatrical release lands Nolan his fourth solid A CinemaScore after Oppenheimer, Dark Knight Rises, Dark Knight and Batman Begins (Dunkirk received an A-). In Screen Engine/Rentrak exits, the near three hour epic gets a strong 81% definite recommend, and the best definite recommend with men over 25 at 84, who showed up as the majority quad at 43%.
More than any star in this very starry film, the chief reason why moviegoers went to see it was Nolan, hands down at 51%. The cast as a whole was the second reason why people went at 44% while Damon ranked 27%. As we told you previously, The Odyssey is Damon’s biggest opening ever at the domestic box office. For Robert Pattinson, The Odyssey is his fifth highest opening ever at the domestic B.O., but it’s his fifth to open north of $100M after Twilight: New Moon ($142.8M), Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 ($141M), Twilight: Breaking Dawn 1 ($138.1M) and The Batman ($134M).
There was some walk-up to this feature which has sparse availability of Imax seats this weekend at popular locations like the AMC Lincoln Center, AMC Citywalk, and Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria with 47% buying their tickets same day on Friday with 53% purchasing tickets in the last week or more according to PostTrak. Imax and PLFs are driving 52% of the business; broken out that’s 25% for the former, and 27% for the latter. Odyssey is raking in cash everywhere across the nation, but popping the best in the Mountain and West regions. The TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, which rarely (if ever) ranks as the top grossing venue in the nation is The Odyssey‘s top leading single location with $242,5K in the bank so far (The venue just installed a 70MM Imax screen). Not surprising at all, but The Odyssey‘s top ten theaters all have Imax or 70MM screen or both. The expectation here is that Imax and 70MM screens will be filled for weeks.
Diversity demos here on Odyssey are 50% Caucasian, 24% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 9% Asian American. Overall guy leaning at 59%. After men over 25 (43%), the second most attended demo was women over 25 (31%), men under 25 (16%) and women under (10%). Largest age group was 25-34 with a near 30%. The under 35 set is the majority here at 55%.
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FRIDAY PM: Let the record breaking begin. Universal’s Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey is looking at a first Friday and previews of $50M which will catapult it to a $117M 3-day opening (note some rivals are see more in the $120M range) at 3,919 theaters.
That’s the biggest opening for Matt Damon as a lead star, outstripping 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.2M), and it’s the best opening for a live-action feature year-to-date at the domestic B.O., besting Lionsgate’s Michael ($97.2M). Overall, it’s the third highest opening YTD behind Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 ($159.6M) and Illumination/Universal/Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131.7M).
Other records: The Odyssey is charting the highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film YTD ahead of Backrooms ($81.4M). It’s also Universal’s highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film, beating out Fifty Shades of Grey ($85.1M). As we already told you below, it’s the third highest start for Nolan after The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8M) and The Dark Knight ($158.4M).
Top 5 for the weekend is as follows:
1.) The Odyssey (Uni) 3,919 theaters, Fri $50M, 3-day $117M/Wk 1
2.) Moana (Dis) 4,200 theaters, Fri $6M, 3-day $19M (-56%), Total $82M/Wk 2
Not a bad hold for live-action Moana if it can hold. Disney is holding onto more than 500 PLF, Screen-X, and D-Box screens despite Odysseus invading multiplexes.
3.) Minions & Monsters (Uni) 3,505 theaters, Fri $4.6M, 3-day $14.5M (-31%), Total $137.2M/Wk 3
4.) Toy Story 5 (Dis) 3,400 theaters, Fri $4M, 3-day $13M (-32%), Total $429.1M/Wk 5
5.) Evil Dead Burn (NL) 3,004 theaters, Fri $1.6M, 3-day $5M (-64%), Total $24.1M/Wk 2
FRIDAY AM UPDATE after Thursday exclusive: Universal is calling the Thursday night previews for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey at $17.6 million.
That’s the best preview number of 2026 year to date, ahead of Toy Story 5‘s $17.5M.
Breaking down last night’s gross, 25% came from Imax digital screens, 25% came from exhibitor-owned PLF screens (that includes Dolby, Screen-X), 5% from Imax 70MM screens (excellent, considering there is only 34 of them), and 3% from regular 70MM. Add it all up and that’s 58% from Imax, PLFs and 70MM prints. Fandango just reported that Odyssey is its No. 1 preseller of 2026 (we told you that advance ticket sales were around $40M).
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In regards to the sellout of Imax seats, well, that just depends on the theater and the showtime. There’s two open front rows at Universal CityWalk’s 7 p.m. show at the time of this post, while AMC Lincoln Square has several Imax showtimes sold out, with a handful of seats in 70MM and Dolby. Regal’s shiny revamped Sherman Oaks Galleria location has the three front rows available in its RPX auditorium with its cushy Mercedes Benz-like seats for 6:15 p.m., while the Imax 7:15 show only has a handful of front seats.
AMC Burbank’s first show today for The Odyssey was at 7:10 a.m., while its latest show was at 1:50 a.m. Saturday. AMC Lincoln Square kicked off at 7 a.m. today and is playing shows well into the middle of the night, with a 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. showtime on Saturday (sounds fun: a near 3-hour movie, then breakfast, then sleep).
The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal, is playing everywhere — not just the coasts but deep into markets like Houston, Denver, Vancouver and Toronto in addition to B.O. capitals L.A. and NYC.
Today’s revised preview figure of $17.6M is exactly the same as Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022, which went on to post a $56.6M Friday/previews figure and a $134M 3-day opening It’s $100,000 higher than the next year’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, which posted $48.1M first Friday/previews and a $118.4M start. It’s also just under the $18M of Universal’s 2022 Jurassic World: Dominion, which posted a $59.5M first Friday and 3-day of $145M. So, it’s pretty safe to say we’re looking at a $100M-plus opening weekend for the big-screen take of Homer’s epic poem. The weekend’s global outlook is $200M-plus.
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Nolan’s top openers are The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8M), The Dark Knight ($158.4M) and Oppenheimer ($82.4M).
In regards to the week, Disney’s live-action Moana ends its with $63M at 3,875 theaters. Tuesday was the Dwayne Johnson’s movie best day with $7.3M. That first-week take is -13% behind the star’s first week of San Andreas ($72.6M), which ended its domestic run at $155.1M.
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The chart:
- Moana (Dis) 3,875 theaters Wk $63M/Wk 1
- Minions & Monsters (Uni) 4,244 theaters, Wk $35M (-44%), Total $122.8M/Wk 2
- Toy Story 5 (Dis) 3,575 theaters, Wk $30.8M (-38%), Total $416.1M/Wk 4
- Evil Dead Burn (NL/WB) 3,004 theaters, Wk $19.1M/Wk 1
- Young Washington (Angel) 2,771 theaters, Wk $10.6M (-45%), Total $37.3M/Wk 2
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE: Universal’s Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey is sailing to previews tonight around $15 million give or take.
If that figure posts, it will rank as the best preview we’ve seen so far this year for a live-action title, ahead of Lionsgate’s Michael ($12.6M previews, $97.2M U.S. opening).
On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score for The Odyssey stands at 96%, the best ever for a Nolan film, ahead of the 94% audience grades for Batman Begins, Dark Knight and Memento, as well as the filmmaker’s multi Oscar winner Oppenheimer (91%).
Already, The Odyssey‘s previews are ahead of Oppenheimer‘s ($10.5M), which was also beefed up by large-format premium-screen ticket sales. That biopic, with Barbie leading the weekend at the time, saw a $33M Friday/previews and a 3-day of $82.4M. Currently, The Odyssey ranks as the British filmmaker’s third best preview night stateside behind Dark Knight Rises ($30.6M) and Dark Knight ($18.5M).
The question remains this weekend whether The Odyssey will cross over into non-premium format auditoriums. Most audiences are willing to wait and see Odyssey in the best seats and best showtimes possible. Sources told us that advance tickets sales heading into the weekend were around $30M-$40M (By comparison, Wicked: For Good clocked $60M in advance tickets before its $147M U.S./Canada opening, while Deadpool & Wolverine counted $50M in presales, that sequel opening to a R-rated domestic record $211.4M). Imax 70MM showtimes for The Odyssey sold out a year in advance, and if you’re looking for Imax or large-format seats in the next three days, chances are you’ll be sitting in the front row, cranking your neck up at the screen.
So then how does Odyssey‘s previews stack up to other appointment-viewing movies, which are promoted and driven by Imax sales? It’s not far from James Cameron’s 2022 Avatar: The Way of Water ($17M previews, 3-day of $134M and a 3 hours and 12 minutes running time, to Odyssey‘s 2 hours and 52 minutes), and it’s well above Legendary/Warner Bros’ 2024 Dune: Part II which had $12M in previews and opened to $82.5M in North America.
We’re going to have plenty more updates tomorrow. Tonight’s estimates are from sources. Universal did not return request for comment.
