The Odyssey

After the fall of Troy, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, struggles to make his way back to the life he left behind. Weather, hostile gods and strange creatures turn each leg of his voyage into an obstacle that tests his cunning and endurance. Along the way he confronts the cyclops Polyphemus, resists the Sirens' lure, and faces the sorceress Circe, all while a shadow hangs over his household and his wife Penelope waits, balancing hope with skepticism. The film follows his attempts to reclaim home and identity, showing how fame, war and longing shape a man who must reckon with the cost of his choices without revealing the outcome of his return. Nolan's vision emphasizes memory and consequence over spectacle too.

Directed by Christopher Nolan and released in 2026, The Odyssey adapts Homer's epic into a feature film. Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway and Lupita Nyong'o among the principal cast. Premiering across major global markets.

The film opened wide internationally on IMAX and premium screens, positioning itself as a tentpole summer release. It attracted strong ticket sales across multiple markets, driven by director name recognition and the all-star ensemble, though exact grosses vary by territory.

Critics and audiences have debated Nolan's approach to myth, praising the film's scale and visual ambition while questioning some narrative condensation. The movie foregrounds leadership, memory and the toll of war, drawing attention to the interplay between human cunning, divine interference and the search for a stable identity after trauma.

Nolan's adaptation rekindled popular interest in Homeric stories, sparking academic essays and fan creativity from art to cosplay. Debate around fidelity to the source and modernizing choices dominated conversations, and several sequences became reference points in discussions about translating ancient myth into large-scale, effects-driven cinema, from classrooms to blockbuster analysis.