It’s now official: The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s latest film, has just broken a historic box-office record by becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time (in the United States, R means under-17s are not admitted unaccompanied). The film has just passed 1.35 billion dollars in worldwide takings — 1.352 billion to be exact — overtaking the previous record held by Deadpool & Wolverine, which ended its run on 1.338 billion dollars.
The Odyssey overtakes Deadpool & Wolverine
Released in cinemas on 17 July, The Odyssey immediately hit very hard with 123 million dollars taken in its opening weekend in the United States. Since then, Christopher Nolan’s film has kept drawing crowds, eager to experience it in IMAX 70 mm. To date, the Greek epic stands at 516 million dollars in the American market and 835 million internationally. A completely mad score for a film running close to three hours, rated R in the United States and devoted to a mythological story several thousand years old. And that success is also particularly impressive for IMAX, which accounts on its own for 354 million dollars in takings. The Odyssey thus becomes the biggest success in IMAX’s entire history, overtaking even Avatar, which had generated 271 million dollars on the format.
Christopher Nolan’s biggest success
With this new record, The Odyssey also becomes the highest-grossing film of Christopher Nolan’s career, ahead of The Dark Knight Rises and its 1.08 billion dollars in worldwide takings. The film is moreover only the third R-rated film in history to pass a billion dollars, after Joker and Deadpool & Wolverine. An achievement all the more remarkable in that The Odyssey doesn’t rest on a superhero franchise or an established licence like Marvel or DC. Nolan has therefore managed to turn a vast mythological story into a genuine global phenomenon.
With 1.35 billion dollars already on the counter, The Odyssey could well keep pushing the limits in the weeks ahead. And above all, Christopher Nolan has once again shown that he is capable of turning an original, ambitious, big-screen film into a genuine worldwide event.
