Hollywood spent two decades de-risking by betting on intellectual property over people. The franchise became the attraction, eclipsing the directors and movie stars that once drew audiences to theaters. The stars were Harry Potter, Optimus Prime, Iron Man and Elsa.
Christopher Nolan has been a rare exception, and the No. 1 opening this weekend for “The Odyssey” — which made Homer’s 3,000-year-old poem an instant blockbuster — underscored the extraordinary degree to which he himself has become the attraction.
“The Odyssey,” the first commercial feature filmed entirely in IMAX, was on track to sell $124.5 million in tickets in the United States and Canada from Thursday through Sunday, according to Rentrak, a movie data service. It will easily be the biggest domestic opening of the year for a live-action film. Among all 2026 movies, it will rank third behind “Toy Story 5” ($160 million) and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($132 million).
A majority of ticket buyers mentioned Mr. Nolan as the primary reason they bought tickets, according to PostTrak, a film industry research service. The film’s ensemble cast placed second. Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page and Tom Holland have roles of varying size.
IMAX locations delivered about 24 percent of the opening numbers. AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest theater operator, scheduled 70-millimeter IMAX screenings at 2, 3 and 6 in some cities to meet demand. Almost all sold out.
“Looking at our presales for the next five weeks, we’ve sold out shows in IMAX movies in week five for a lot of theaters, so this thing is going to play,” said Rich Gelfond, IMAX’s CEO.
“Nolan used IMAX technology in a way that no one ever has to create something that no one has ever seen,” added Mr. Gelfond and noted that the company designed a new camera specifically for the film.
Overseas, “The Odyssey” was expected to sell another $139.6 million in tickets for a worldwide opening of about $264.1 million. The nearly three-hour long epic was produced by Mr. Nolan and Emma Thomas, a husband-wife team who have produced many films together and cost Universal Pictures an estimated $250 million to make. Marketing easily added $100 million to the price.
Reviews were sensational. Domestic ticket buyers gave the R-rated film an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Mr. Nolan’s breakthrough at the box office came in 2005, when his superhero reboot “Batman Begins” grossed $375.6 million, or about $658 million after adjusting for inflation. Two more fan-favorite Batman movies followed, along with an original 2010 science-fiction smash, “Inception,” which grossed $1.3 billion in today’s dollars. From 2014, Mr. Nolan to focus exclusively on original titles and delivered runaway hits such as “Interstellar”, “Dunkirk” and “Oppenheimer”, which won seven Oscars in 2024, including best picture and director.
In the process, Mr. Nolan an increasingly rare achievement: He became one of the few filmmakers whose name itself functions as a commercial brand. While studios spent years teaching audiences to trust intellectual property, he taught them to trust him.
“Christopher Nolan is the only filmmaker working today who could take an ancient story like this, attract a cast as wide-ranging and accomplished as this, and turn it into a pop culture event,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a box-office newsletter.
