'The Odyssey' hits a shocking box-office milestone in second week

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYMon, July 27, 2026 at 6:30 PM UTC

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Call them cyclopes, because moviegoers had their eye on only one movie last weekend.

“The Odyssey” continued to smash box-office records in its second frame, raking in an additional $87 million after opening to $123.5 million during the July 17 weekend.

The Christopher Nolan epic dipped just 30% in ticket sales, according to The Wrap. It now ranks among the three lowest second-week drops ever for a movie that opened to $100 million-plus, trailing 2024’s “Wicked” (27.9%) and “Top Gun: Maverick” (28.9%).

With $210.5 million so far in the U.S. alone, “The Odyssey” is already outpacing Nolan’s last box-office heavyweight, 2023’s “Oppenheimer,” which earned $174.6 million in two weeks and dipped 43% in its second weekend.

Combined with overseas grosses, “The Odyssey” has netted a whopping $639 million worldwide so far – an impressive $140 million of which is solely from the movie’s highly sought-after IMAX screenings, Variety reports.

More: The 2 best ways to watch 'The Odyssey,' according to projectionists

So why such a strong hold? For starters, word of mouth and critics’ notices have been equally strong, with 94% positive reviews and 97% approval score from audiences on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. On social media, viral memes have organically sprung up around Robert Pattinson’s Antinous and Samantha Morton’s Circe.

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And although Nolan and his A-list cast did an exhaustive global press tour before release, they continued to maintain a strong presence on morning and late-night shows throughout last week, with Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Elliot Page stumping the three-hour blockbuster in new TV interviews.

“The Odyssey,” adapted from Homer’s ancient Greek poem, will face stiff competition this coming weekend from “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (in theaters July 31), which is projected to debut well north of $200 million in the U.S. alone, according to Box Office Theory.

Even still, the mythological drama will almost assuredly join the billion-dollar club in the coming weeks, becoming the fourth film to do so this year after “Toy Story 5” ($1.02 billion), “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($1.01 billion) and Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” ($1.01 billion).

Ticket tips: 'The Odyssey' IMAX 70mm tickets are impossible to get. Try this.

In a somewhat surprising box-office milestone, Benny Safdie is now the highest-grossing actor of 2026 so far, with his roles in both “The Odyssey” and the “Super Mario” sequel, Collider reports. Safdie, who plays Agamemnon, previously appeared in “Oppenheimer,” but is perhaps best known for his behind-the-scenes work as a director of both “The Smashing Machine” and “Uncut Gems” (with brother Josh Safdie).

The box office has bounced back in a major way in 2026, thanks in part to legacy sequels such as "The Devil Wears Prada 2," as well as original horror sensations including "Obsession" and "Backrooms." According to a Variety story published earlier this month, ticket sales are already 10% higher than they were at this same point last year, with expected box-office titans "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Dune: Part Three" still on the horizon this winter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Odyssey' hits a shocking box-office milestone in second week

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