‘The Odyssey’ Achieves Christopher Nolan’s Largest Overseas Opening to Date

Christopher Nolan has established a reputation for box office resilience, but this week’s figures from China are particularly noteworthy. His latest film has been steadily gaining traction across various markets, and its highly anticipated debut in China has added yet another achievement to its record.

The film premiered on over 20,000 screens in mainland China, including approximately 90% of the country’s IMAX venues, following a series of preview screenings that generated considerable excitement among audiences. That anticipation was clearly reflected in the impressive numbers on its official release date.

‘The Odyssey‘ earned $15.9 million on its opening day in China, distributed across just 57,000 screenings, which included $7.6 million from total previews. This impressive figure marks the biggest opening day of Nolan’s career in the Chinese market, surpassing ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’s’ $15.1 million, making it the ninth-largest opening day for a Hollywood film in the region since the pandemic.

Despite this strong opening, the film’s total still trails behind several of the largest post-pandemic Hollywood releases in China, such as ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ at $17.2 million, ‘Fast X’ at $17.6 million, and ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ at $20.3 million. It also falls short of ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’s’ $22.5 million, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’s’ $23.2 million, and ‘Zootopia 2’s’ $33.9 million, with ‘F9’ leading at $58.4 million.

Even without reaching the very top of that list, securing the ninth position is a notable achievement for an original, non-franchise film competing against titles with established global fanbases. This also marks a significant improvement for Nolan, whose previous releases in China, including ‘Tenet’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ did not reach such a high single-day total.

Word of mouth has played a crucial role in driving the film’s success. On Maoyan, China’s largest ticketing platform, audience ratings for ‘The Odyssey’ have soared to 9.7 out of 10, akin to an A+ CinemaScore, and currently stands as the highest score for any Hollywood film in the post-COVID era, matching ‘Zootopia 2’s’ equally impressive 9.7 rating.

The film has also garnered an 8.3 out of 10 audience score on Douban, another prominent Chinese review platform, further reinforcing the positive reception it has received. With Saturday pre-sales already reaching $4.6 million and set to expand across more than 58,000 screenings, which is over a thousand additional showings compared to opening day, the film’s momentum appears to be unwavering.

Industry analysts are now estimating a three-day opening weekend in China to be between $35 million and $45 million, a range that would position ‘The Odyssey’ among the largest Hollywood openings in the region since the pandemic altered moviegoing habits globally. Such a debut would also mark the biggest three-day weekend of Nolan’s career in China, surpassing the box office performances of both ‘Tenet’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ in the same market.

What makes this projection even more remarkable is the screen count behind it. Achieving these figures with fewer than 60,000 screenings places ‘The Odyssey’ in an exclusive category compared to other films that required much broader releases to achieve similar box office results.

With its global total nearing the $1.2 billion mark and a performance in China that exceeds expectations, ‘The Odyssey’ is increasingly poised to become one of the defining box office narratives of the year, potentially marking the biggest commercial success of Nolan’s career to date.

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