The Odyssey’ Just Out-Earned ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ in a Weekend Nobody Saw Coming
Late summer box office battles rarely stay predictable for long, and this past weekend proved exactly that. Two of the year’s biggest theatrical juggernauts, one an original mythological epic and the other a record-breaking superhero sequel, have spent weeks trading blows at the top of the charts.
Most expected ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘ to keep dominating given its historic run since opening in July, but Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘ has quietly proven itself just as capable of pulling in massive numbers deep into its theatrical release. That resilience produced a genuinely surprising result this weekend.
‘The Odyssey’ earned more on its fifth weekend globally than ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ did, according to MovieHub. Nolan’s mythological epic pulled in $121 million worldwide during its fifth weekend, compared to $66 million for Marvel’s web-slinging sequel over the same stretch.
That gap is especially notable given how dominant ‘Brand New Day’ has been for most of its own run. The film earned $22.2 million domestically this past weekend, dropping just 44% from the previous frame, and added roughly $44 million internationally to bring its combined weekend haul to around $66 million, all while pushing its domestic total to $891 million.
‘The Odyssey,’ meanwhile, has continued showing remarkably little sign of slowing down despite being several weeks further into its own theatrical run. The film has already become Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing movie ever, having previously crossed the billion-dollar mark globally and surpassed both ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ to claim that distinction for his career.
Both films have benefited from genuinely strong word-of-mouth rather than simply riding an opening weekend wave. ‘Brand New Day’ currently holds a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest of any live-action Spider-Man film, while ‘The Odyssey’ has continued expanding into new international markets that have kept fueling its box office momentum well past its debut.
The two films have essentially been running parallel marathons rather than a straightforward sprint, each pulling from different corners of the moviegoing audience while still occasionally overlapping at the top of weekend charts. That’s part of what makes this particular result stand out: even with ‘Brand New Day’ still commanding the No. 1 spot domestically, ‘The Odyssey’s’ broader international reach was enough to out-earn it globally for the weekend.
For exhibitors and studios alike, having two films capable of pulling these kinds of numbers this far into their runs has helped turn what’s traditionally a slower stretch of the calendar into one of the strongest box office periods in years. Both films still have plenty of runway left before their theatrical windows close.
With ‘Brand New Day’ closing in on the all-time domestic box office record and ‘The Odyssey’ continuing to add to its historic IMAX and international totals, this weekend’s numbers are a reminder that neither film is done making headlines yet.
Which movie are you rooting for at the box office?
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