“Odisea” Breaks Records and Promises to Be the Film of Summer 2026: Details of the Making of This Global Sensation

With a global box office of $264 million in its opening weekend, “Odisea” is marking the biggest success of the summer season. Critics have reacted enthusiastically, with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian giving it a maximum five-star rating, while loyal viewers are traveling the world to catch Christopher Nolan’s epic film in one of the few Imax 70 mm theaters.

Expectations are that the film will continue to crush the competition at the box office for weeks to come, especially in a summer with few major premieres, the only exception being “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

A Majestic Cinematic Achievement

After the triumph of “Oppenheimer” at the 2024 Oscars with the Best Picture award, Nolan realized he had a unique moment to achieve a long-held aspiration: adapting Homer’s work to the screen.

“Right now, I have the opportunity to bring to life a project that would otherwise be impossible,” he recently told The Guardian.

Every cent of the staggering $250 million budget is clearly visible in every scene of Odisea. The views of Ithaca are spectacular, while our protagonist’s journey to the underworld is accompanied by an ominous atmosphere, which Nolan created by shooting on the black sand beaches of Iceland, illuminated by the grey light of the midnight sun.

To achieve the visual variety of the landscapes, the director shot in six countries, including Scotland, Greece, Italy, and Malta, as well as the controversial choice of Western Sahara. This region, administered by Morocco, has been classified by the UN as a non-self-governing territory and is often considered Africa’s last colony.

The magnificent scenes in the Mediterranean were shot on the open sea, where Nolan avoided computer effects and chose the real rough ocean, with Odysseus and his companions on board the only functional Viking-era ship in the world. Another replica of the ship was built for use in a giant water tank set up in the parking lot of Universal Studios.

“We had two giant engines, like those of 737 planes, spraying water at us. It was probably the hardest possible way to recreate the sea in a controlled environment,” said Matt Damon.

Technical Innovation

Nolan has been a strong supporter of the Imax format for two decades. In 2008, “The Dark Knight” was the first major Hollywood film to use that technology for action sequences, and since then the use of Imax cameras has grown significantly in his filmography. For this project, Nolan shot with six such cameras, placed in a sound-isolated capsule to silence their characteristic noise.

Also, the team collaborated with an LED company to build lighting devices called “pyrohedrons” (fiery pyramids), which created the impression that the dim light of flames was warmly illuminating interior and night scenes.

“The goal was for the device to perceive exactly what the human eye sees,” Nolan explained to The New York Times.

The Divine Closer to the Earthly World

In Homer’s poem, the gods are figures who act driven by their personal interests, as classicist Emily Wilson emphasized in her translation, intervening in the fates of men mostly out of whims and momentary passions. But Nolan’s interpretation of the relationships between deities, demigods, and humans is more confined to the earthly realm, where Zendaya’s Athena appears more as a trusted ally and advisor to Odysseus than a mysterious divine power.

Charlize Theron is always compelling in any role, but what Nolan has given to the nymph Calypso may seem insufficient to some viewers. In the director’s eyes, the character is not just a violent oppressor holding Odysseus prisoner, but an isolated and sad being. It makes you think what Theron could have done with a more ruthless variant of the role, an area where she excels in animated series antagonists.

Similar to scholar Emily Hauser, who wrote for The Guardian about the film’s narrative omissions, part of the audience may notice the absence of the Homeric princess Nausicaa. In the poem, she encounters Odysseus and sharply rebukes him, calling him “a man without words,” a dialogue that would have added a touch of levity to the narrative.

Female Characters According to Nolan

When Lupita Nyong’o was cast to play Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships, far-right commentators reacted with their usual narrow-minded objections. The irony is that the role is given very little screen time in the film: when Tom Holland’s Telemachus visits Sparta to meet Helen and her husband Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) midway through the film, the legendary beauty is almost silent, with a terrible scar on the left side of her face. A bold decision by Nolan, though it is strange that the cause of the wound is never revealed.

Anne Hathaway’s Penelope, Odysseus’s faithful wife, is a powerful and clever character, even though her palace is invaded by suitors. “We wanted to make sure she didn’t look like she was in mourning for her husband,” said costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who dressed Hathaway in the red and blue tones of Ithaca. “She always appeared as the queen.” The actress has compared her character to a slowly simmering volcano, until the final eruption in the moments when she curses the suitors and sends her treacherous servant, Melantho (Mia Goth), to a certain end, while the palace is engulfed in war.

Unexpected Appearances

Some of the most emotional moments of the film come from John Leguizamo, almost unrecognizable with grey hair as Eumaeus, the nearly blind shepherd who remains loyal to the end. Benny Safdie, in the role of Agamemnon, commander of the Greek army, delivers a frightening performance in a clever choice against expectations. And other moments came by chance: a pod of dolphins that suddenly appeared during a day of filming later became part of the final edit of the film.

However, the biggest surprise might be the inclusion of rapper Travis Scott in the role of a wandering storyteller, who opens the film by recounting Odysseus’s exploits at Troy. As he speaks, his character pounds a stick on the ground following the rhythm of the dactylic hexameter, the original meter of Homer’s poem, as any lover of the classics well knows.

Oscars Race

It may still be early to make precise predictions for next year’s Oscars, since most potential films won’t be shown before fall festivals. But Nolan is one of the Academy’s favorites, winning seven of the 13 nominations for “Oppenheimer” in 2024 and a respectable three of eight for “Dunkirk” a few years earlier. “Odisea” seems a safe bet for nominations in the best picture and best director categories, as well as in most technical categories, leaving the acting races more open.

The True Weight of Conflict

It can be said without doubt that the most powerful sequence of Odisea is the final 30 minutes, which describe Odysseus’s final return home with Athena’s help and his secret entry into the palace of Ithaca disguised as a beggar. After Penelope tests the men to string the bow, an action only Odysseus achieves, he sheds his tattered clothes and reveals his identity.

His clash with the suitors is not the merciless slaughter depicted by Homer; it is a fair battle where both sides are armed. However, the suitors, under the faithless leadership of Robert Pattinson’s Antinous, cannot withstand the rightful ruler of the house. His return to the throne is mixed with bitterness and joy, accompanied by flashbacks to when “the flames of chaos and suffering” consumed Troy, while the Greek army plundered everything.

For Nolan, as in “Dunkirk” and “Oppenheimer,” war has nothing glorious. As Odysseus himself puts it: “We have torn the delicate thread that connected people.” Here there may not be many true victors, but Nolan’s ending is somewhat more hopeful than Homer’s. While the great epic poet ended the work with Odysseus’s plans to organize new plundering to regain wealth, Nolan foresees a brighter and less mercenary future for the couple.

In a wonderful seaside scene, the reunited Odysseus and Penelope set out on a journey westward to honor the memory of his fallen comrades, while Telemachus, who at this point may be somewhere between 16 and 22 — an age that Holland seems unable to pin down — stays to rule over Ithaca.