The Odyssey is Christopher Nolan’s followup adaptation after Oppenheimer as he moves from science fiction, war and historical dramas to a mythological epic this time. This is going to be huge when it opens July 17, 2026.
No exact figure, but estimates say the cost to create this is around $250 million, making it one of the most expensive films of Nolan’s career.
The story, stars Matt Damon and is Homer’s epic about the legendary Greek king Odysseus as he tries to return home after the Trojan War. His voyage, a ten-year odyssey, includes mythical creatures, gods and monsters. Odysseus faces many from The Cyclops Polyphemus to The Sirens to The witch Circe to a sea monster Scylla, Charybdis, the deadly whirlpool and the nymph Calypso, who keeps him captive. At home, they think Odysseus is dead as his wife fights to protect the kingdom from the power-hungry.
Principal photography began in early 2025 and took place in many countries including Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland and Iceland for realism as Nolan does not depend on CGI. The making of this movie appears to be an odyssey in itself. The production, also filmed on custom-built ships, uses large-format IMAX film cameras. The film stars one of the biggest casts, including:
- Matt Damon as Odysseus
- Tom Holland
- Anne Hathaway
- Zendaya
- Robert Pattinson
- Charlize Theron
- Lupita Nyong’o
- Benny Safdie
- John Leguizamo
- Samantha Morton
This movie comes from Nolan and his longtime producing partner Emma Thomas through their production company Syncopy Inc. It’s distributed by Universal Pictures. The cinematographer is Hoyte van Hoytema, who won an Academy Award for Oppenheimer.
For a movie like this the score is vital and can plays such a significant role. The score for this one is by Swedish born composer Ludwig Göransson and that says a lot. You may not know the name but he is one of the most influential composers working in Hollywood today. Known for blending traditional orchestral music with other sounds, such as electronic, world music, jazz, hip-hop, and experimental. He has won several Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTA awards. While studying at University of Southern California, Göransson’s big break came when he met filmmaker Ryan Coogler and since then they have worked together on nearly every Coogler movie including Göransson’s breakthrough, Black Panther. He then went on to work on Black Panther Wakanda Forever, last year’s award winning Sinners, Creed and Fruitvale Station. Their partnership has become one of Hollywood’s great modern day director-composer duo’s, comparable to Steven Spielberg and John Williams.
For this role, Damon dropped to 167 pounds, which he calls was his high school weight as Nolan wanted him lean but strong. He followed a strict diet and rigorous training to get the look look wanted. Damon says making this movie was absolutely the pinnacle of his entire career and calls landing the role, the greatest professional experience in his over 30 year career as an actor. He says he looks at it as maybe the last movie he will ever do. Saying opportunities like this are rare, as movies of this magnitude are rarely made and with with so little CGI. He compliments Nolan for making an epic in today’s Hollywood and says Nolan’s need to use real locations around the globe, made it the hardest movie he has ever done. He says it was physically demanding for the cast and crew as so much was filmed outdoors in rough weather, on real waters, aboard real ships – out there – in the middle of the world.
With today’s reality of Hollywood production, expectations are high as The Odyssey feels destined to possibly become the defining cinematic epic of years to come. We can’t wait!
