What to Expect From Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

Three years after Oppenheimer swept the Oscars, Christopher Nolan is back with the most ambitious swing of his career: a big-screen adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey. It opens in theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026, and on current evidence it is shaping up to be the event movie of the summer.

Here is what is confirmed, what it means, and why the format you choose to see it in actually matters this time.

The story

Homer's poem follows Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, on his long voyage home after the Trojan War. Across ten years he faces the whims of the gods, mythological monsters, and trials that test both his cunning and his humanity. It is one of the oldest adventure stories ever written, and despite its fame it has never had a definitive large-scale film version. Nolan adapting it is the first time the saga gets a true blockbuster treatment.

Expect Nolan's usual interest in time, memory, and a man trying to get back to the people he loves. The source material hands him a structure he has circled his whole career: a journey told partly out of order, with the hero recounting his trials along the way.

The cast

Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, and the ensemble around him is stacked:

• Matt Damon as Odysseus
• Tom Holland as Telemachus, Odysseus's son
• Anne Hathaway as Penelope, his wife
• Zendaya as the goddess Athena
• Robert Pattinson as Antinous
• Charlize Theron as the nymph Calypso
• Lupita Nyong'o in a dual role as Helen and Clytemnestra
• Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, with Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, and Mia Goth as Melantho

It is a classic Nolan move: a deep bench of actors who have either worked with him before or have been circling his orbit for years. Holland, Pattinson, and Hathaway are all returning collaborators.

Shot entirely on IMAX film

The headline on the technical side: The Odyssey was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras using brand new IMAX film technology. Nolan has used IMAX for set pieces before, on The Dark Knight, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer, but capturing a whole narrative feature on the format is a first at this scale. The practical upshot is enormous image quality and a frame that can open up to fill the tallest screens.

Reuniting behind the camera are cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and composer Ludwig Goransson, who won an Oscar for his Oppenheimer score. Nolan produces with Emma Thomas through their company Syncopy, with Universal Pictures distributing. The runtime is reported at around 172 minutes.

Why the buzz is this loud

Two reasons. First, Nolan is coming off the biggest moment of his career: Oppenheimer made close to a billion dollars and won Best Picture, so anticipation for whatever he did next was always going to be intense. Second, the marketing has leaned hard into the idea that this is a theatrical experience built for the biggest possible screen, which is catnip for the moviegoers who turn out opening weekend.

Matt Damon has described the production as feeling more like an expedition than a film shoot, with the team chasing real locations across the world rather than building everything on a stage. That practical, go-there-and-shoot-it approach is core to why Nolan's movies feel the way they do.

How to watch it

1. IMAX 70mm film is the top tier and the way it was meant to be seen. Screens are scarce, so check listings now.
2. 70mm and IMAX digital are strong runners-up if film IMAX is sold out or not near you.
3. Any large-format premium screen will still deliver most of the scale. The smaller the screen, the more you give up with this one.

When you have seen it, the only real question left is where it ranks. Slot it against the rest of Nolan's run in our Christopher Nolan movies ranked tier list, or settle the whole filmography yourself in Shortlist.

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