The Odyssey Just Smashed Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Record

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/christopher-nolan/">Christopher Nolan’s epic new film, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/the-odyssey/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Odyssey, was not a cheap movie to make. 

Not only did the director hire huge names like https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/anne-hathaway/">Anne Hathaway, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/tom-holland">Tom Holland, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/matt-damon/">Matt Damon, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/robert-pattinson/">Robert Pattinson, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/charlize-theron/">Charlize Theron, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/lupita-nyongo/">Lupita Nyong’o, and https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/zendaya/">Zendaya, but he also filmed https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-odyssey-making-of-behind-scenes_uk_6a59f4bee4b042a7aac764cd">the entire flick on IMAX.

In all, The Odyssey cost about $250 million (roughly £187.5 million).

But the investment paid off: it earned its money backhttps://fortune.com/2026/07/21/nolan-the-odyssey-250m-budget-3-days-no-ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> in three days.

And as of Sunday, the blockbuster had its https://deadline.com/2026/07/box-office-the-odyssey-motor-city-her-private-hell-hadestown-1237002537/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">best second domestic weekend of any Nolan film – beating his previous record holder, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/dark-knight/">The Dark Knight.

https://deadline.com/2026/07/box-office-the-odyssey-motor-city-her-private-hell-hadestown-1237002537/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Per Deadline, the movie made $87 million (£65.2 million) in North America over the last weekend.

At that stage of its release, The Dark Knight raked in a still-momentous $75.1 million (£56.41 million) domestically.

It’s the second-best second weekend for an R-rated movie ever, too – first spot goes to https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/deadpool-wolverine-director-reveals-the-truth-behind-those-taylor-swift-cameo-rumours_uk_66b33c0ce4b09cb4a56b521c">Deadpool & Wolverine, with $96.8M (£72.73 million).

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/toy-story-5-reviews-critics_uk_6a350b8be4b057a50cedc238">Toy Story 5, which just https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/toy-story-5-billion-dollar-box-office-1236818437/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">broke a billion to become the highest-grossing film of 2026 so far, https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/weekend-box-office-the-odyssey-holds-strong-to-dominate-with-87-million/#:~:text=All%20time%20it%20is%20in,Spider%2DMan%20coming%20in%20hot." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">made £70.8 million (£53.03 million) on its second weekend.

For distributor Universal, meanwhile, The Odyssey https://deadline.com/2026/07/box-office-the-odyssey-motor-city-her-private-hell-hadestown-1237002537/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">is already the second-highest-grossing R-rated movie since Nolan’s other huge hit, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/oppenheimer/?page=3">Oppenheimer.

Globally, https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/post/how-much-money-has-the-odyssey-made-so-far#:~:text=Worldwide%2C%20The%20Odyssey%20has%20racked,of%20%24639.6%20million%20so%20far.]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Odyssey has made $639.6 million (£480.5 million) since its release on 17 July.

Speaking of global box office figures, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-odyssey-christopher-nolan-box-office-success-explained-1236652731/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the film had already smashed Nolan’s first worldwide opening weekend records.

It did better internationally than any of his other films during its first release ($263.7 million, or £197.5 million).

Some have noted that The Odyssey achieved this monumental milestone https://www.foxnews.com/media/odyssey-thrives-box-office-franchise-fatigue-hits-summer-bombs-supergirl-moan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">without being a part of Hollywood’s endless barrage of franchises and https://www.vanityfair.com/story/the-odyssey-christopher-nolan-box-office" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">despite those who criticised the film for being “woke”.

He has also https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/christopher-nolan-odyssey-ai-trojan-horse_uk_6a631290e4b0f1b7fc5283ab">expressed his scepticism of artificial intelligence (AI).

“I think AI is a Trojan Horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside,” he laughed https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/christopher-nolan-odyssey-ai-trojan-horse_uk_6a631290e4b0f1b7fc5283ab">in a recent interview.

He added that he found it “fascinating” that “in the last few years” AI had “sort of taken over Wall Street and the world of business and investment”, but said he’d “never seen a technology advancing so rapidly” being “so completely rejected by the public”.

“It’s just sort of an odd thing.

Young people in particular, they coined this term ‘AI slop’,” he continued. “There’s a sort of disdain for things AI.”

Only time will tell what lessons, if any, Hollywood may take from his success.