Key Takeaways
- Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey hits theaters and IMAX on July 17, 2026, with special showings starting the night before.
- The cast is stacked: Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o all have roles.
- It was shot entirely on 70mm IMAX film cameras, which tells you exactly how seriously Nolan is taking this one.
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Every few years Christopher Nolan picks a project that makes you go “wait, he’s doing what now.” Oppenheimer was a three hour biopic about a physicist and it still cleaned up at the box office. Now he’s adapting The Odyssey, and somehow the cast list alone has me more locked in than most trailers manage.
The Odyssey hits IMAX on July 17, with early showings starting the night before. I’ve been half paying attention to this one for months, and now that the full trailer is out I’m not half paying attention anymore.
The Cast Is Ridiculous
Matt Damon is playing Odysseus, which honestly tracks. Anne Hathaway is Penelope. Then it gets a little absurd. Tom Holland is Telemachus, Odysseus’s son. Zendaya is Athena. Robert Pattinson is Antinous. Charlize Theron is Calypso. Lupita Nyong’o is Helen of Troy.
That’s not a cast, that’s a full-blown event. Nolan doesn’t usually stack a movie this deep with recognizable names, so the fact that he did it here tells me he sees this as a genuine tentpole, not a passion project he’s squeezing in between bigger swings.
I’ll admit the Tom Holland casting caught me off guard given he’s got Spider-Man: Brand New Day dropping later this month too. Between that and playing Telemachus, the guy is having a summer. I already wrote about how hyped I am for that Brand New Day trailer and the Hulk reveal, and now he’s got a second massive release the same month. Not a bad July for him.
Why Homer, Why Now
The Odyssey is one of those stories everybody sort of knows without ever having read the whole thing. Guy fights in a war, takes ten years to get home, fights a cyclops, gets seduced by a witch, his wife fends off suitors the entire time. It’s been adapted a hundred times in a hundred mediocre ways.
What makes me want to see Nolan’s version specifically is that he doesn’t do anything halfway. This isn’t a guy who’s going to turn Homer into a straightforward action movie and call it a day. Based on the trailers, the Cyclops sequence alone looks like it’s going for genuine scale instead of CGI spectacle for its own sake.
If you want to actually read the source material before you see it, Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey is the one people have been raving about for years. It reads way faster than you’d expect from a 3,000 year old poem.
The IMAX Of It All
Nolan shot this entire movie with 70mm IMAX film cameras, which is the same commitment he made to Oppenheimer and Tenet before it. According to Wikipedia’s entry on the film, Universal is distributing it and pushing the format hard, with special early showings the night before wide release.
I’ve made the drive to an actual IMAX screen for his last two movies and it’s been worth it every time. This isn’t marketing speak about “an immersive experience.” The guy shoots specifically for that format and the difference is real once you’re sitting in the theater. If you have a real IMAX screen anywhere near you, I’d plan around it instead of catching a regular showing.
Is This The Movie Of The Summer
It’s got real competition. Spider-Man: Brand New Day drops two weeks later and that’s going to eat a ton of the same oxygen. There’s also been a genuinely wild summer at the box office already, between Michael becoming the biggest biopic in history and everything else fighting for screens.
But The Odyssey has something none of those movies have, which is Nolan’s track record of turning “should this even work” premises into genuine box office events. I didn’t think anyone wanted a three hour Oppenheimer movie either, and that thing swept the Oscars and made a billion dollars worldwide.
July 17 is circled on my calendar. I’ll be at an IMAX screen opening weekend, and I’d be surprised if this isn’t the most talked about movie of the month once people actually see it.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does The Odyssey release?
The Odyssey opens in theaters and IMAX on July 17, 2026, with special early showings starting July 16.
Who stars in The Odyssey?
Matt Damon plays Odysseus, Anne Hathaway plays Penelope, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong’o.
Is The Odyssey based on Homer’s poem?
Yes. The film is Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the ancient Greek epic poem of the same name.
Was The Odyssey shot in IMAX?
Yes, the entire film was shot using 70mm IMAX film cameras, continuing Nolan’s commitment to the format from Oppenheimer and Tenet.
Who is distributing The Odyssey?
Universal Pictures is distributing the film worldwide.
