The latest performance figures show that the newest Christopher Nolan film is continuing to gain ground at theaters across the United States and Canada. The movie has now made $395 million in domestic ticket sales and $911 million worldwide through Sunday. It added another $10 million from domestic theaters during its third Monday, even as a competing film pulled in $47 million.
Industry experts say that the film’s strong showing is not surprising, especially when compared to other recent releases. Despite being a film with complex themes and a darker tone, it has outperformed another high-profile release from Nolan.
If the current pace continues, the film will reach $1 billion worldwide by Friday. This would make it the third billion-dollar release with an R rating, joining films like Joker and Deadpool & Wolverine.
The milestone was already secured after the film’s second weekend, which saw a small overseas drop of just 3% and a domestic drop of 27%. The movie’s performance is also on track to surpass the $474 million domestic run of another recent film, Wicked.
The question now is how far the movie can go after passing that billion-dollar mark in its fourth weekend. Domestically, it is following a similar path to the 2022 summer hit Top Gun: Maverick. That film also passed the $400 million mark on its 18th day of release in North America.
However, The Odyssey may find it difficult to match the unadjusted total of that film, which stands at $718 million. Top Gun: Maverick benefited from a strong Memorial Day weekend launch and ran through the full summer, including major holidays.
The Odyssey will have limited competition in August, with no film projected to open higher than $40 million. Still, the natural slowdown that comes with the end of summer will affect its overall performance.
However, older moviegoers who typically come out for films in later weeks may help sustain interest. This could allow the film to reach a domestic total of $600 million or more.
The Odyssey is now close to matching the box office success of other major releases from recent years. It is approaching the $33 billion domestic total of Super Mario Bros. and the $36 billion global gross of The Super Mario Bros. It is also nearing the $51 billion worldwide gross of Furious 7, which was released in 2015.
The film’s success continues to show how strong a draw audiences are for Nolan’s storytelling and visual style. With its growing global presence, it remains one of the most significant releases of the year so far.
IMAGE: Director Christopher Nolan participating in the Inception panel at WonderCon 2010.. Photo: BrokenSphere / Wikimedia, taken 2010-04-03, CC BY-SA 3.0