‘The Odyssey’ Dominates Asia Box Office While Japan Faces Challenges

Avatar photoValentina Kraljik
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Some films achieve success domestically but struggle to make an impact internationally. Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ has flipped that narrative, transforming a massive domestic and global run into a series of local records across Asia. The box office performance of ‘The Odyssey’ has been particularly robust in two of the region’s largest markets, as the latest weekend figures reveal.

The film premiered in theaters on July 17 with a reported budget of $250 million and was filmed entirely using IMAX cameras. This format has played a crucial role overseas, where premium screens have attracted a significant portion of the film’s audience. To date, it has surpassed $1.68 billion globally, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

Recent figures shared by box office analyst Luiz Fernando on X highlight the film’s success in Korea and China, while Japan appears to be an outlier. In Korea, ‘The Odyssey’ added $3.1 million during its seventh weekend, reflecting a modest drop of 40.4%, bringing its total to $91.6 million. In China, it earned an additional $2 million in its sixth weekend, down 42.9%, reaching $108.1 million after 38 days.

Korea’s performance has been particularly notable. With a total of $91.6 million, ‘The Odyssey’ surpasses ‘Frozen 2’ at $87.2 million and ‘Aladdin’ at $91 million, making it the third-highest-grossing Hollywood film in the country. It has also achieved 11.2 million admissions, outpacing the 10.8 million for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and matching the 11.2 million for ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ placing it among the top five for ticket sales by a Hollywood film.

The film’s journey has been consistent. It opened on August 5 and reached 10 million admissions in just 33 days, becoming the first foreign title in four years to achieve this milestone. It is also Nolan’s second film to do so, following ‘Interstellar,’ and it led the Korean box office for six consecutive weekends before its latest performance.

In Japan, however, the narrative is quite different. After holding the top spot during the weekdays, the film dropped to fourth place in its second weekend, grossing $1.5 million, according to the same report. This represents a 48.3% decline from its opening weekend without previews and a 64.3% drop when including previews.

The film was surpassed by the ‘Chiikawa’ phenomenon and two local debuts, with its total standing at $7.6 million after 10 days. Comparisons with earlier Nolan films in Japan, such as ‘Oppenheimer’ at $1.5 million and ‘Interstellar’ at $1.1 million, indicate that the drop was steeper than several of them. Nonetheless, it maintains a 4.4-star rating on the platform displayed in the screenshot, suggesting that those who viewed it enjoyed it.

Japan’s release came later than in other markets, debuting on September 11, so its run is still in the early stages. Positive reviews and word of mouth could bolster its performance, although competition from local films remains fierce. Historically, the market has been more challenging for Hollywood films compared to Korea or China.

Despite Japan’s slow start, the overall outlook remains very positive. Both Korea and China are generating impressive numbers, and the film’s global total continues to rise. Its international earnings have exceeded $1 billion, marking it as the first Hollywood non-sequel and non-remake to achieve this since ‘Avatar’ in 2009.

For Universal, this overseas success has made ‘The Odyssey’ the studio’s highest-grossing film ever. It has also given Nolan the biggest hit of his career. The lingering question is how much longer its momentum can sustain.

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