Well, the man of the hour once showcased his gallantry by putting together another long-running feature based on historical data that surely caught the wind online (for the wrong reasons) and audiences (for the right reasons). Online fandom does not equal real-world consensus!
With $124.5 million in North America for its debut, The Odyssey earned the fourth-biggest domestic opening weekend ever, sans inflation, for an R-rated movie, only tailing the three Deadpool tales. Yes, that means it just narrowly beat It‘s $123 million debut (which would’ve been higher, had not a certain hurricane wrecked Florida and probably 5-7% of individual tickets back in 2017) and the eighth-biggest weekend for Universal (only trailing Jurassic World 1-3, Furious 7, Wicked For Good, and the two Super Mario Bros. films). With $139.5 million overseas, the global total is a record for Nolan’s arsenal, surpassing The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Oppenheimer in their respective worldwide kickoffs.
So much for the trends to state “a woman of color for Helen of Troy” or “Zendaya being in another blockbuster that audiences didn’t ask for” are meaningless because folks still showed up for a non-franchise, adult-skewing breakout with excellent reviews, a bankable blockbuster director, and recognizable names that are relative draws in today’s time (Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Anne Hathaway). Also, several of these names had their fair share of records to add to their pots in time to sell for the likes of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Batman Part II, or Dune: Part Three. Win-win, indeed!
If it legs like Oppenheimer, which pulled a 4x multiplier off an $81 million debut (back in the summer of 2023), it can pass $400 million domestically. If it frontloads, which is a possibility, it will probably end up closer to $350 million. It also had the edge of more folks wanting to witness the spectacle in an IMAX/PLF theater, so take that Moana! Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if it can match Oppenheimer‘s $970 million global cume. Conservatively speaking, it will probably reach $900 million worldwide, but if it does the honors like Nolan’s work three years ago, it could go the insane distance (hypothetically speaking) of reaching $1.5 billion. If it legs like Dune: Part Two, it will surpass $1 billion worldwide. If it collapses, with only $700 million worldwide, that’ll still justify its $250 million budget. I’m sure moviegoers will be pleased to see this title and Tom Holland’s fourth outing with Spider-Man lead the tale at the box office till Labor Day weekend. Sure, it’s no Barbenheimer, but it’s a damn close comparison.
In other news, Moana dipped 56% in its second weekend with $19 million and has passed $82 million domestically and $178 million worldwide. Not a blowout drop like other titles, but it’s still whimpering along as another remake that no one except shareholders asked for, and it’s still settling to be a major disappointment box-office-wise once all is said and done. Perhaps there was only one tale that would succeed when traveling across the seas, with the righteous actions nearly destroying the world. It’s probably going to wrap up around $275-300 million worldwide once all is said and done.
Minions & Monsters and Toy Story 5 both tied for third place with $14.8 million. The former had a better hold than its predecessors in weekend three, while the latter is cruising towards $500 million domestically (though it may be a little out of reach) and will probably pass $1 billion next weekend. Evil Dead Burn is sadly playing exclusively to the fans, although it has outgrossed the $24 million debut of Evil Dead Rise. The Invite has passed $15 million domestically, while Supergirl will pass $70 million domestically sometime tomorrow (yeah, it will settle for passing Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web worldwide while crawling past Morbius domestically).
Obsession clearly doesn’t give a s*** about being on PVOD still, because it’s still sticking around to walk backward to $450 million worldwide. If that doesn’t net Inde Navarrette (or Curry Barker) an Academy Award nomination, someone might need to re-enact the restaurant scene in the voting room once February arrives next year. If it could only lend a helping hand to Backrooms to help it find more real estate to squeak past $200 million domestically, but these indie darlings are the big talking points of 2026 (outside of Nolan, Michael Jackson, Project Hail Mary, or another IP selection).
Next weekend sees the release of Her Private Hell, 72 Hours (on Netflix), The Dink (on Apple TV), and Motor City.
