Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Just Smashed His Own Box Office Record in China
Christopher Nolan has never exactly struggled to find an audience overseas, but China has often been a trickier market for his sprawling, dialogue-heavy blockbusters. That changed in a big way this month, as the director’s latest epic proved that even a three-hour adaptation of Homer can turn into a genuine theatrical event on the other side of the world.
‘The Odyssey’ rolled out across more than 20,000 screens in mainland China, including nearly 800 IMAX screens, ahead of its official release. The film had already banked $6.9 million from weekend previews playing exclusively on IMAX and CINITY screens before general audiences even got their first look, a sign that anticipation was running unusually high for a non-franchise title.
That momentum carried straight into opening weekend, where ‘The Odyssey’ grossed $36.3 million over its first three days in China, beating ‘Tenet’ and its $29.8 million debut to become Nolan’s biggest three-day opening ever in the country. It is also reportedly the second biggest Hollywood opening of 2026 in China, trailing only ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’.
The numbers built steadily rather than exploding all at once. ‘The Odyssey’ opened with $15.9 million on its Friday, edging past ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ to rank as the ninth biggest opening day for a Hollywood film in China since the pandemic, then added momentum through the weekend as word of mouth spread. IMAX’s own numbers underline just how much of that business came from premium formats, with the format delivering RMB 90 million, or roughly USD 13.2 million, across the opening weekend, accounting for 45 percent of the film’s nationwide box office despite occupying less than one percent of total screens. “Chinese audiences continue to be enthralled by the work of Christopher Nolan and his extraordinary ambition as a filmmaker,” said IMAX China CEO Daniel Manwaring in a statement announcing the results.
Globally, ‘The Odyssey’ has already crossed the billion dollar mark, and its China surge only strengthens its case as one of the year’s true theatrical juggernauts, even while it continues to trail behind the record-setting run of ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’. The film released domestically on July 17 and stars Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Zendaya as Athena and Robert Pattinson as Antinous, with a supporting cast that includes Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o.
Nolan shot the entire production on 70mm IMAX film across multiple countries, a technical commitment that appears to be paying off directly at the Chinese box office given how heavily IMAX screens are driving the film’s grosses there. For a filmmaker whose brainy, structurally ambitious movies do not always travel easily, watching ‘The Odyssey’ out-earn ‘Tenet’ in the same market feels like a genuine turning point.
With the film still expanding its run in China and internationally, how high do you think ‘The Odyssey’ can climb on the road to Nolan’s next box office milestone?
