Going into the weekend, I don’t think there was a doubt in anybody’s mind that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey would dominate the box office. Yet, most of the predictions (including ours) were cautiously optimistic. After all, an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey isn’t a surefire box office hit, especially with the movie being slapped with an R-rating and some obnoxious early buzz over the casting.
Yet, all of that didn’t seem to matter much to moviegoers, with the film earning a huge $124.5 million. That’s the third-best opening of Nolan’s career, sitting just behind his two Batman sequels, The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and The Dark Knight Rises ($160.9 million). It’s also significantly more than his last film, Oppenheimer, made ($82.5 million)—and that movie went on to gross nearly a billion dollars worldwide.
Historic Milestones for Non-Franchise Film
It’s a huge win for Nolan, but also for non-franchise fare, securing the largest live-action opening of the year. Significantly, audiences loved the movie, giving it a superb “A” CinemaScore rating, which bodes well for repeat business.
Notably, its $257 million global opening is Nolan’s best ever—bigger even than the Batman movies. It’s also Matt Damon’s biggest opening ever, and the fourth-biggest R-rated opening of all time behind the three Deadpool movies (it just managed to eke out a win over It: Chapter One).
Disney Suffers a Flop While Animation Holds Strong
Disney’s live-action Moana sank to second place, losing 56% of its audience to bring in $19 million, pushing its total to $82 million. Considering it cost about as much as The Odyssey to produce (around $250 million), it’s thought this will lose well over $100 million for Disney, making it a flop on the same level as their Snow White reboot.
Luckily for them, Toy Story 5 is continuing to make serious money. It tied for third place with Minions & Monsters, with both making $14.8 million apiece. Toy Story 5’s $430.9 million haul is the biggest of the year so far. While Minions & Monsters has underwhelmed, its $137.5 million total means it will still turn a nice profit for Illumination Entertainment.
Horror Hits and Misses
One of the weekend’s sadder turns of events is the complete nosedive of Evil Dead Burn, which lost a horrendous 64% of its audience to make just $5 million this weekend, leaving it with a weak $24.1 million domestic total. Horror doesn’t lose often at the box office, but this is the second WB/New Line horror flick to die domestically this year, alongside their other notorious flop, They Will Kill You.
On the flip side, Obsession—the horror flick that simply won’t quit—continued to run strong, making another $2.5 million for an insane $258.4 million domestic total.
The Down-Box Mid-Tier and Award Hopefuls
A24’s award-hopeful The Invite, directed by Olivia Wilde, did fair business this weekend. It lost a modest 34% to hit $3.9 million in sixth place. However, that drop is slightly less impressive when you consider the film added 500 screens.
Angel Studios’ Young Washington has also dropped off very quickly, losing another 47% of its audience to hit $3.6 million. Still, it sits at a fair $41 million domestic total—not a bad showing, but certainly not a Sound of Freedom-level blockbuster.
Wrapping Up the Top 10
Supergirl started to wrap up its run, losing over 1,000 screens to finish with a $1.5 million weekend and a poor $69 million domestic gross. Ouch.
The top 10 was rounded out by Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, which made $1.45 million for a $114.7 million domestic total—a solid, respectable showing for Spielberg’s latest.
Let us know if you managed to get into an IMAX 70mm showing of The Odyssey this weekend in the comments below!
| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Odyssey | $124.5 M | $124.5 M |
| 2 | Moana | $19 M | $82 M |
| 3 | Toy Story 5 | $14.8 M | $430.9 M |
| 4 | Minions & Monsters | $14.8 M | $137.5 M |
| 5 | Evil Dead Burn | $5 M | $24.1 M |
| 6 | The Invite | $3.9 M | $15 M |
| 7 | Young Washington | $3.6 M | $41 M |
| 8 | Obsession | $2.5 M | $258.49 M |
| 9 | Supergirl | $1.525 M | $69.9 M |
| 10 | Disclosure Day | $1.45 M | $114.7 M |
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed