Posted in: Movies, Universal | Tagged: christopher nolan, the odyssey

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey Has A Reported $250M Budget

Christopher Nolan's big-screen adaptation of the epic poem The Odyssey has a reported budget of $250 million.

Christoper Nolan's next movie will be a big one, not just because it is adapting an epic poem that has withstood the test of time and not because the cast is already large and impressive. It will be big because the reported base budget is already insane, and that's before anything happens during production that could add additional costs. The Odyssey is a massive story, so it stands to reason that someone like Nolan, who likes to do as many things practical as possible that we all made jokes about him setting off an actual nuclear bomb for Oppenheimer, would need a budget to match that. According to a report by Puck, he will get the numbers to back that up, as the number they are floating around is $250 million. This would be Nolan's biggest movie, production budget-wise, thus far in his career. Now, budgets are kind of a hard thing to nail down this early in the game, so that number could very well change, either going up because things needed to be added or down if they find some sort of credit that could shave off some of that cost. Either way, our prediction that Universal is giving Nolan a blank check for The Odyssey appears to be coming true.

Christopher Nolan Returning To Universal For The Odyssey Makes Total Sense

At the beginning of October, it was officially announced that Christopher Nolan would be returning to Universal for his next film following the success of Oppenheimer. It seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Nolan's relationship with Warner Bros. Universal, which appears to be giving him whatever he wants, which makes sense considering the whole Barbeheimer thing, the box office, and the awards seasons. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, Charlize Theron, and Robert Pattinson have reportedly joined the cast, and the untitled film was given a prime-time release date of July 17, 2026. On December 24, 2024, it was announced on X/Twitter that Nolan would be adapting the classic, The Odyssey: "Christopher Nolan's next film 'The Odyssey' is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer's foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026."

What happened with Oppenheimer in the summer of 2023 was one of those beautiful and possibly once-in-a-lifetime moments. The way the world leaned into the Barbenheimer thing and proved that there was space for two excellent films to open simultaneously without cannibalizing each other was almost unheard of. People will try to make it happen again, but it was an organic thing that came about with no influence from studio marketing. Studio marketing and everyone involved decided that leaning in was the way to go, and it worked out well for everyone.

Barbie ended up with a total box office of $1.45 billion and a place in the pop culture landscape that isn't going away anytime soon. Nolan's Oppenheimer walked away with a sweet $976 million, becoming the third highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time [at the time of writing] and securing its place in the pop culture conversation by becoming a slow-moving character piece that did numbers. Oppenheimer also won seven Academy awards, including the coveted Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. So it's not surprising that Universal happily courted Nolan again and is likely doing exactly what Warner Bros. did in the hay day of their partnership: writing him a blank check and setting him loose on a movie set.

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