Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan is set to release his Greek epic adaptation, The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Zendaya in the cinematic retelling of the Homer classic poem about an 8th-century Greek warrior, called Odysseus, who takes on a great journey to return home to his wife and child.
The trip home proves challenging as the warrior comes face to face with giant, man-eating creatures, sirens and nymphs. Additional cast members include Charlize Theron, Samantha Moon, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Mia Goth, Elliot Page and Travis Scott.
Made from a budget of $250 million, available in IMAX and coming in hot from the director’s previous acclaimed releases, The Odyssey is one of 2026’s hottest releases with a great deal riding on it. Amidst the release, Nolan has cited his 2024 historical biopic, Oppenheimer, as a huge part of why he was able to adapt such a thematically loaded poem, stating, “it helped that it was very successful.”
This is the adaptation of the biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, which starred Cillian Murphy as Robert J. Oppenheimer in his scientific journey of creating the first nuclear weapon during World War II.
“Coming out of my last film, Oppenheimer had way more success than I think we had any right to expect,” the Dark Knight filmmaker explained. “And that gives you an opportunity to get something made that you might not otherwise be able to get made.”
Oppenheimer was famously tied to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, based on the Mattel toy of the same name, due to the two works sharing a release date, prompting a party online called Barbenheimer filled with memes pointing out how the two films differed and talks of double viewings and which film would be seen first. You just had to be there.
Eventually, Gerwig’s film about a pink, plastic, fantastic doll having an existential crisis dominated online discourse and praise, but when award season came around, it was Oppenheimer which charged ahead with numerous wins, something Nolan utilised to get Odyssey off the ground.
“I think the Oscar thing helped. I think it all helped to go to the studio and say — because being The Odyssey, it needs a massive budget. It needs a massive cast. It needs a lot,” the director added. “I like to say it was a very hard movie, but hard for all the right reasons. It’s The Odyssey. It should be hard. It shows up on screen.”
Nolan also discussed the filming schedule for such a heavily anticipated project, which has numerous Greek classic scholars and readers coming in with the highest expectations. “The reality is, we went in at a hundred days. And by day 91, we couldn’t have taken another step,” he explained. “So we finished — we finished at the right time…Everybody was done. I mean, people were just exhausted. They’d been through it. So it took the right time to make the film. We had enough time to make it.”
The Odyssey hits cinemas on 17th July.
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