The Odyssey has set a new record for Sir Christopher Nolan with his biggest box office debut and took 264 million US dollars (£196 million), according to Universal Pictures.
Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Zendaya, the blockbuster is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, which follows Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, as he makes his perilous 10-year journey home after the Trojan War.
Released on Friday, the adaptation scored an even better debut than Sir Christopher’s 2023 blockbuster Oppenheimer and marked the filmmaker’s best opening since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.
The UK and Ireland took the top spot for the country with the biggest international open – with 17.4 million US dollars (£12.9 million) across three days.
Screenings for the film were sold out at the BFI Imax cinema in London for the opening weekend with fans arriving as early as midnight and 4am to watch the film on Friday.
The Odyssey was rolled out internationally across 73 markets over the weekend and launched across more than 12,800 locations and 26,000 screens, including 440 Imax screens.
It is the first feature movie to be filmed entirely with Imax cameras – a system of cameras that capture a sharper, brighter and higher-resolution content.
The Odyssey has been hailed as Sir Christopher’s “best film to date” in a string of glowing reviews and also stars Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton and Charlize Theron.
Sir Christopher is also known for The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar and Dunkirk.
He is also known for directing Memento, Inception and Tenet.
