‘The Odyssey’ Just Became Universal’s Biggest Movie Ever, and It’s Still Not Slowing Down
Christopher Nolan has built an entire career around delivering theatrical events audiences can’t resist, but even by his own standards, ‘The Odyssey’ has turned into something genuinely unprecedented. Nearly two months after its release, the film is still adding tens of millions to its total on a weekly basis, a rarity for any release this deep into its theatrical run.
That staying power has already produced a stunning list of milestones. ‘The Odyssey’ recently became Nolan’s own highest-grossing film ever, surpassing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ both domestically and worldwide, while also claiming the title of highest-grossing R-rated film in history, overtaking ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’s’ previous $1.33 billion benchmark.
Now, the film has reached an even bigger milestone. Universal Pictures officially confirmed that ‘The Odyssey’ has become the highest-grossing movie in the studio’s 114-year history, surpassing ‘Jurassic World’s’ $1.677 billion global total from 2015 to claim the top spot on Universal’s all-time chart.
By the end of its ninth weekend in theaters, the Matt Damon-led epic had climbed to a worldwide total of roughly $1.684 billion, split between $601.2 million domestically and $1.083 billion internationally. Reaching that milestone in less than two months of release is a genuinely remarkable pace, especially considering the film only dropped 9% domestically during its eighth weekend before climbing back to the number one box office spot entirely.
That resilience has continued into its ninth weekend as well, with the film adding around $27 million overseas alone, a drop of just 18.2% from the previous frame, an unusually small decline for a film this far removed from its initial release.
#ChristopherNolan’s Epic #TheOdyssey ready to cross the 1.7B mark next week, when it will beat #InsideOut2’s 1.7B as #11 HIGHEST GROSSING FILM in history at Global #BoxOffice! INSANE 27M on 9th weekend overseas, just a -18.2% drop (vs #TopGunMaverick’s 16.4M, -14.6%), for 1.08B intl. cume over 82 intl. markets! Allied to its 600.5M cume in the US, the Epic with a 250M production price tag not including marketing hits a 1.68B Global cume! Next weekend, it will beat both #InsideOut2’s 1.7B as #11 highest grossing film of ALL TIME Globally! It has also become #Universal’s highest grossing film EVER this weekend, beating #JurassicWorld’s 1.67B Global run! With legs still going strong and incredibly resilient on a global scale, allied to IMAX extended in several markets until end of SEP, the 1.8B mark seems now locked🔒 Eyeing a 1.8B-1.9B Global run
— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) September 13, 2026
‘The Odyssey’s’ success is fueling a genuinely dominant year for Universal as a whole. The studio currently leads all major studios in 2026 with nearly $4.92 billion in global ticket sales and roughly 26% of the overall market share, making it the first studio this year to cross both $3 billion internationally and $4 billion worldwide.
Beyond its studio records, ‘The Odyssey’ has also become the biggest earner in IMAX history, pulling in more than $486 million worldwide through that format alone, while standing as the first film that’s neither a sequel nor a remake to cross $1 billion internationally since 2009, a genuinely rare feat in today’s franchise-dominated box office landscape.
The final trailer for Christopher Nolan's ‘THE ODYSSEY’ has been released.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 1, 2026
In theaters on July 17. pic.twitter.com/xn42TcX4aG
With momentum still holding steady this deep into its run, the film now appears poised to climb even higher on the all-time global chart in the coming weeks. Given how consistently it’s continued outperforming typical late-run drop-off patterns, surpassing additional titles further up the all-time earnings list increasingly looks like a matter of when rather than if.
Produced by Nolan alongside Emma Thomas under their Syncopy banner, with Thomas Hayslip serving as executive producer, ‘The Odyssey’ features an ensemble cast that includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page, and Charlize Theron alongside Damon’s leading performance as Odysseus. For a film based on a 3,000-year-old story, its box office trajectory in 2026 has proven anything but ancient history.
What do you think about The Odyssey becoming Universal's biggest movie ever?
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