“The Odyssey” didn’t need a Trojan horse to top Friday’s box office charts.
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” grossed $51 million from 3,919 screens in North America on Friday. Early estimates had pegged the saga’s box office gross by Sunday between $90 million and $100 million, but after a stellar opening day, the film is expected to gross $120 million. “Odyssey” will soon become the third movie to gross more than $100 million in 2026, joining “Toy Story 5” ($159 million) and “Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million). The Odyssey comes with a hefty price tag of $250 million.
The Odyssey’s opening gross of $120 million is Nolan’s highest grossing film since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, which debuted with an astonishing $160 million. The Odyssey’s first-weekend forecast was higher than Nolan’s 2023 Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer, which grossed $82 million in its opening weekend and reached $975 million by the end of its run. “The Odyssey” has also grossed $51 million as of Friday, already more than Nolan’s 2014 film “Interstellar” ($47.5 million) in its entire opening weekend.
Based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey chronicles the story of Odysseus, who must make the arduous journey back to his hometown of Ithaca after the Trojan War. Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, along with an all-star cast including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, and John Leguizamo.
“Moana” opened its second weekend in North American theaters on Friday, coming in at No. 2 with just $5.5 million. Rivals estimates the live-action remake has grossed $19 million through Sunday, a 56% drop from its soft domestic opening of $43 million.
Variety reported that given its $250 million production budget, Moana could cost Disney about $100 million if the tide doesn’t change. It’s rare, but it’s happened before. In 2024, Disney’s live-action Lion King spinoff Mufasa opened with just $34 million, but by the end of its run, it had grossed $722 million worldwide. But because the film was released around Christmas, it had free rein over cineplexes during the low release period in January and February. Moana doesn’t have that luxury when it comes to trying to keep up with Toy Story 5 and Minions and Monsters.
Speaking of “Minions & Monsters,” that movie added $4.3 million domestically on Friday to take third place. It is expected to raise $14 million by Sunday. The animated adventure, which takes the yellow henchmen to Hollywood’s Golden Age, is expected to gross $136 million at the domestic box office through its first three weekends. Minions & Monsters is shaping up to be one of the lowest-grossing films in the series, but it only cost $85 million to make, meaning Universal doesn’t need more money to make it a success.
Rounding out Friday’s top five were “Toy Story 5” and “Evil Dead Burn.” On Friday, “Toy Story 5” took fourth place with $4.2 million. It has grossed approximately $13.8 million through Sunday, and is expected to reach a total of approximately $429 million in North America by the end of its fifth opening weekend. Finally, “Evil Dead Burn” earned an estimated $1.4 million domestically and came in at No. 5. The film is expected to gross about $4.7 million by the end of the week, bringing its domestic total by Sunday to about $23 million.
