The season of the summer blockbuster is officially here, and while The Mandalorian and Grogu didn’t get the ball rolling as well as Disney would have liked, Masters of the Universe is here to kick things off this weekend. One of the most anticipated movies of the summer comes this week, when Steven Spielberg officially returns to the world of sci-fi for his next epic, Disclosure Day, which stars Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor. Fans could argue for days about which summer 2026 movie is going to be the biggest, and while Spider-Man: Brand New Day may yet finish with the highest box office total, The Odyssey is guaranteed to turn heads. The new historical epic hails from Christopher Nolan, who recently swept the Oscars for his work writing and directing 2023’s Oppenheimer.
After starring in a key supporting role in Oppenheimer, Matt Damon has been promoted to the lead figure in The Odyssey, which also stars Chris Nolan newcomer Tom Holland. Between his work in The Odyssey and Brand New Day, Holland could easily add another $2 billion to his already impressive box office total. News broke earlier this week that The Odyssey has a runtime of 2:52, making it one of the longest movies of Nolan’s career, behind the three-hour epic, Oppenheimer. Further developments just yesterday revealed that the film carries a $250 million budget, which is Nolan’s most expensive film since The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. This gargantuan budget leaves The Odyssey with a break-even point of just over $500 million, but after Oppenheimer fell just short of $1 billion, there’s no reason to bet against Christopher Nolan right now.
Who Else Stars in ‘The Odyssey’?
In addition to Matt Damon and Tom Holland, who star in the father-son duo roles of Odysseus and Telemachus, Christopher Nolan has assembled one of the most impressive casts in movie history for The Odyssey. Also billed in lead roles in The Odyssey are Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Lupita Nyong’o as both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Zendaya as Athena, and Charlize Theron as Calypso. The star power doesn’t stop there, though, as Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Ryan Hurst, Himesh Patel, James Remar, and Bill Irwin have all been tapped for roles in the film as well. The film is adapted from the famous fictional story by Homer.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of The Odyssey, which is coming to theaters on July 17.
- Release Date
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July 17, 2026
- Runtime
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172 Minutes