‘The Odyssey’ Slaying With $120M+ U.S. Opening: ‘A’ CinemaScore, Best Live-Action Haul Of 2026 & Record For Matt Damon As Lead – Box Office Saturday AM Update

SATURDAY AM: Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey remains on course for the best live-action feature debut this year at the North American box office to date with $120.5M after Friday/previews of $51.2M.

We already told you that this is Nolan’s third best opening ever in U.S./Canada, and so it is in opening days as well. The Odyssey ranks behind Dark Knight Rise‘s first Friday/previews of $75.7M and Dark Knight‘s $67.1M.

Overseas, The Odyssey is bound for $137.3M in 73 markets bringing its global opening to $257.8M, which is the third highest opening YTD after Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($372.5M) and Toy Story 5 ($312M). In like-for-likes, it’s Nolan’s biggest global opening ever ahead of The Dark Knight Rises ($198M) and Oppenheimer ($180M).

As far as that $137M+ offshore start goes, that’s Nolan’s biggest foreign debut ever ahead of Oppenheimer and Dark Knight Rises in like-for-likes. The 2x Oscar winning filmmaker is notching his biggest opening of all-time in 45 markets including France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, and Brazil. It’s also Universal‘s biggest opening ever in 11 markets.

Here in the states, if these numbers hold, The Odyssey will rank as the fifth best opening for an R-rated movie after Deadpool & Wolverine ($211.4M), Deadpool ($132.4M), Deadpool 2 ($125.5M) and It: Chapter One ($123.4M). Overseas, The Odyssey is the second biggest opening of all-time for an R-rated feature behind Deadpool & Wolverine ($233.3M in reported opening).

The Universal theatrical release lands Nolan his fourth solid A CinemaScore after Oppenheimer, Dark Knight Rises, Dark Knight and Batman Begins (Dunkirk received an A-). In Screen Engine/Rentrak exits, the near three hour epic gets a strong 81% definite recommend, and the best definite recommend with men over 25 at 84, who showed up as the majority quad at 43%.

More than any star in this very starry film, the chief reason why moviegoers went to see it was Nolan, hands down at 51%. The cast as a whole was the second reason why people went at 44% while Damon ranked 27%. As we told you previously, The Odyssey is Damon’s biggest opening ever at the domestic box office. For Robert Pattinson, The Odyssey is his fifth highest opening ever at the domestic B.O., but it’s his fifth to open north of $100M after Twilight: New Moon ($142.8M), Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 ($141M), Twilight: Breaking Dawn 1 ($138.1M) and The Batman ($134M).

There was some walk-up to this feature which has sparse availability of Imax seats in its opening weekend at popular locations like the AMC Lincoln Center, AMC Citywalk, and Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria with 47% buying their tickets same day Friday versus 53% who purchased tickets in the last week or more according to PostTrak. Imax and PLFs are driving 52% of the business; broken out that’s 25% for the former, and 27% for the latter. Odyssey is raking in cash everywhere across the nation, but popping the most in the Mountain and Western regions. The TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, which rarely (if ever) ranks as the top grossing venue in the nation is The Odyssey‘s top leading single location with $242,5K in the bank so far (The venue just installed a 70MM Imax screen). Not surprising at all, but The Odyssey‘s top ten theaters all have an Imax or 70MM screen or both. The expectation here is that Imax and 70MM auditoriums will be filled for weeks.

Diversity demos on Odyssey are 50% Caucasian, 24% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 9% Asian American. Overall guy leaning at 59%. After men over 25 (43%), the second most attended demo was women over 25 (31%), men under 25 (16%) and women under (10%). Largest age group was 25-34 with a near 30%. The under 35 set is the majority here at 55%.

Overall weekend for the entire domestic marketplace is filing $187.7M, which is +40% from a year ago when DC/Warner’s Superman was leading the B.O. in its second frame with $58.4M.

1.) The Odyssey (Uni) 3,919 theaters, Fri $51.2M, 3-day $120.5M/Wk 1

2.) Moana (Dis) 4,200 (+325) theaters, Fri $5.5M (-70% from previous Friday), 3-day $18.8M (-56%), Total $81.8M/Wk 2

3.) Minions & Monsters (Uni) 3,510 (-734) theaters, Fri $4.3M (-34%), 3-day $14M (-34%), Total $136.7M/Wk 3

4.) Toy Story 5 (Dis) 3,400 (-175) theaters, Fri $4.2M (-27%), 3-day $13.8M (-27%), Total $429.9M/Wk 5

5.) Evil Dead Burn (NL) 3,004 theaters, Fri $1.5M (-77%), 3-day $4.8M (-65%), Total $23.9M/Wk 2

6.) Young Washington (Angel) 2,275 (-496) theaters, Fri $1.1M (-46%), 3-day $3.7M (-46%), Total $41M/Wk 3

7. The Invite (A24) 2,110 (+500) theaters, Fri $1.1M (-55%) 3-day $3.5M (-41%), Total $14.6M /Wk 4

8.) Obsession (Foc) 1,524 (-545) theaters, Fri $790K (-39%), 3-day $2.4M (-38%), Total $258.3M/Wk 10

9.) Supergirl (WB) 1,572 (-1,012) theaters, Fri $435K (-62%) 3-day $1.4M (-62%), Total $69.8M/Wk 4

10.) Disclosure Day (Uni) 1,299 (-905) theaters, Fri $400K (-61%), 3-day $1.25M (-63%), Total $114.5M/Wk 6

FRIDAY PM: Let the record breaking begin. Universal’s Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey is looking at a first Friday and previews of $50M which will catapult it to a $117M 3-day opening (note some rivals are see more in the $120M range) at 3,919 theaters.

That’s the biggest opening for Matt Damon as a lead star, outstripping 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.2M), and it’s the best opening for a live-action feature year-to-date at the domestic B.O., besting Lionsgate’s Michael ($97.2M). Overall, it’s the third highest opening YTD behind Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 ($159.6M) and Illumination/Universal/Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131.7M).

Other records: The Odyssey is charting the highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film YTD ahead of Backrooms ($81.4M). It’s also Universal’s highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film, beating out Fifty Shades of Grey ($85.1M). As we already told you below, it’s the third highest start for Nolan after The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8M) and The Dark Knight ($158.4M).

1.) The Odyssey (Uni) 3,919 theaters, Fri $50M, 3-day $117M/Wk 1

2.) Moana (Dis) 4,200 theaters, Fri $6M, 3-day $19M (-56%), Total $82M/Wk 2Not a bad hold for live-action Moana if it can hold. Disney is holding onto more than 500 PLF, Screen-X, and D-Box screens despite Odysseus invading multiplexes.

3.) Minions & Monsters (Uni) 3,505 theaters, Fri $4.6M, 3-day $14.5M (-31%), Total $137.2M/Wk 3

4.) Toy Story 5 (Dis) 3,400 theaters, Fri $4M, 3-day $13M (-32%), Total $429.1M/Wk 5

5.) Evil Dead Burn (NL) 3,004 theaters, Fri $1.6M, 3-day $5M (-64%), Total $24.1M/Wk 2

FRIDAY AM UPDATE after Thursday exclusive: Universal is calling the Thursday night previews for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey at $17.6 million.

That’s the best preview number of 2026 year to date, ahead of Toy Story 5‘s $17.5M.