Key Takeaways
- Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey opens everywhere July 17, shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film for the first time in history, with Matt Damon leading a ridiculous cast.
- IMAX 70mm opening-weekend tickets went on sale a full year early and sold out in hours, and IMDb ranked it the most anticipated movie of 2026.
- The trailer got ratio’d hard online, and I do not care. Nolan has earned the benefit of the doubt about ten times over. I will be there opening week.
Jump to:
Nine Days Out and the Hype Is Real
We are nine days from The Odyssey hitting theaters on July 17, and I cannot remember the last time a movie release felt like this much of an event. Universal put IMAX 70mm opening-weekend tickets on sale a full year in advance, which nobody had ever done, and half the US locations sold out within twelve hours. A year early. For a movie nobody had seen a frame of.
IMDb has it ranked as the most anticipated film of 2026, and Deadline has been tracking every detail like it is a moon landing. Variety is already predicting it finishes as the highest grossing movie of the year. The early first reactions backed it up too, which I covered when the first reactions called it a Nolan triumph.
A $250 Million Movie Shot Like Nothing Before It
The pitch is simple: Homer’s Odyssey, the three-thousand-year-old blueprint for every adventure story you have ever loved, with Matt Damon as Odysseus trying to get home from Troy. Around him is one of the most stacked casts ever assembled: Anne Hathaway as Penelope, plus Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, Mia Goth, and more.
The technical side is the real story. This is the first movie ever shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film cameras, with new technology IMAX built specifically for Nolan. Budget is reported around $250 million, and true to form, Nolan spent it on real locations and practical effects instead of green screens. The man built a real Trojan horse. There is a cyclops. In IMAX. I am a simple guy, and that sentence sells me a ticket.
If you read my House of the Dragon Season 3 review, you know I have been living in big-budget mythology all summer. This is the theatrical version of that itch, and nobody scratches it like Nolan.
And if you want to show up knowing the story, do what I did and grab Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey before opening night. It reads fast, it is genuinely fun, and you will catch things in the movie everyone else misses.
About That Trailer Backlash
Now the messy part. The trailer racked up over 600,000 dislikes on YouTube, one of the worst ratios in Hollywood history, right around the same time first reactions from actual screenings were calling the movie a triumph. That gap tells you everything.
Some of the noise is legitimate taste. People heard Matt Damon’s line deliveries and had opinions, fine. But a lot of it is the usual internet pile-on machine, where dunking on the big thing becomes the content itself. I have watched this cycle play out too many times to take a dislike counter seriously. The Dark Knight casting announcement got roasted. Heath Ledger as the Joker was “ruining Batman.” We know how that ended.
Why I’m All In
Here is my whole argument: Nolan does not miss. Oppenheimer won Best Picture and made a billion dollars off a physics biography. Dunkirk made a war movie with almost no dialogue into an experience. Even his weakest movies are more interesting than most directors’ best ones.
So when the guy says he needs brand new camera technology to film a cyclops, I am not asking questions. I am buying the ticket. I did not manage to snag one of those 70mm presale seats last year, so I will be at the biggest screen in the Chicago area opening week like everybody else.
July 17. See you there.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does The Odyssey come out?
The Odyssey opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026, including IMAX and premium large format screens. Select IMAX 70mm showings sold out nearly a year in advance.
Who stars in The Odyssey?
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope. The cast also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, and Benny Safdie.
Was The Odyssey really shot entirely in IMAX?
Yes. It is the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film cameras, using new camera technology IMAX developed for Christopher Nolan, with a reported budget around $250 million.
Why did The Odyssey trailer get so many dislikes?
The trailer drew over 600,000 dislikes on YouTube, one of the worst ratios in Hollywood history. Reactions to the footage were mixed online, but early screening reactions to the actual film were strongly positive.
