Christopher Nolan has done it again. While some questioned whether or not the director’s $250 million adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey would manage to keep his winning streak going, the answer seems to be a definitive yes. The film managed to outpace our early prediction that it would hit $90 million, with Deadline reporting that it’s now on track for a $120.5 million weekend. That makes it the biggest live-action debut of the year, and it managed to easily outpace Nolan’s own Oppenheimer, which opened with $82.5 million. It’s currently the third-biggest opening of Nolan’s career, just behind The Dark Knight ($158 million) and The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8 million).
What’s especially noteworthy is the film’s CinemaScore, which is a terrific A. That’s the score a polled opening-night audience gives a movie, showing that word of mouth is likely going to be strong for Nolan’s epic, meaning it will have legs. It’s the biggest opening of Matt Damon’s career and the fifth-highest opening for an R-rated movie, after Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and It: Chapter One. Overseas, it’s on track to become Nolan’s biggest opening ever, with it looking at about $137 million, meaning that, all in, it will make about $257.8 million worldwide by the end of the weekend.
That’s a pretty stunning opening for Nolan’s three-hour epic, bolstered no doubt by its strong cast—although, at this point, Nolan is a brand unto himself, with him never really going wrong at the box office. Early naysayers picked apart the trailer and some of his casting choices, but in the end, it all amounted to just a lot of noise, as audiences have decisively embraced the film, which seems like it could also be a strong player at this year’s Oscars.
In second place is Moana, which—in a small silver lining for Disney—looks like it will drop 56% week to week, which at least isn’t an embarrassing number, with some predicting it could fall more than 70%, like Supergirl. It will make $19 million this weekend for a poor $82 million total. Not good for a movie that cost as much as The Odyssey. Sadly, Evil Dead Burn is crashing in week two, with it looking at a steep 64% drop to $5 million in fifth place. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to open it during the summer.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a full box office round-up. What format did you see The Odyssey in? Let us know in the comments.