Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Budget Reportedly Revealed (And It’s Massive)

As expected, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey won’t be a cheap film to make.

January 11, 2025, 2:51pm

The production budget for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey has reportedly been revealed, and it’s unsurprisingly a very large figure. Per Puck (via ComingSoon), the film sports a massive $250 million price tag, making it one of the most expensive endeavors of Nolan’s career. That number is in the same ballpark as The Dark Knight Rises, which had a budget in the $250-300 million range. Other notable Nolan-directed tentpoles, like Inception ($160 million) and Interstellar ($165 million), were bargains compared to The Odyssey.

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Nolan’s last film, the Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer, had a budget of $100 million (coincidentally, the same amount as his other World War II drama, 2017’s Dunkirk). In the director’s filmography, Tenet is the only other project that crossed the $200+ million budget threshold; the ambitious sci-fi thriller cost $205 million to make.

The Odyssey, based on Homer’s famous poem, is currently scheduled for release in July 2026. It’s already one of the most anticipated films on the horizon; late last year, Nolan put together a star-studded ensemble including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Luipta Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron. The plan is for the movie to begin production in the first half of this year, though an exact start date hasn’t been set yet.

When Universal Pictures, the studio distributing The Odyssey, announced details about Nolan’s project, it described the movie as a “mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX technology.” The story chronicles Odysseus’ journey back home after fighting in the Trojan War. It features a variety of figures from Greek mythology, including the cyclops Polyphemus, the god Poseidon, and the goddess Calypso, among others.

Nolan is one of the few directors working today who can justifiably command a $250 million budget for his next film. Ever since The Dark Knight cemented Nolan as one of his generation’s most gifted filmmakers, he has consistently been a reliable box office draw regardless of what story he tackles. The likes of Inception ($839 million worldwide), Interstellar ($740.8 million), Dunkirk ($530.4 million), and Oppenheimer ($976.8 million) illustrate that his name alone is a brand audiences will show up for. Even Tenet managed $365.9 million at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; that haul likely would have been much larger if it was released under normal circumstances.

Considering the subject matter and Nolan’s vision for The Odyssey, this was never going to be a cheap investment. Billed as a bold epic made for IMAX, a $250 million budget was almost to be expected – especially after Universal reaped the critical and commercial benefits of Oppenheimer. Of course, the large price tag means The Odyssey will need to perform very well at the box office in order to turn a profit, but Nolan’s track record speaks for itself. If Oppenheimer was able to nearly gross $1 billion alongside fellow blockbuster Barbie in 2023, there should be plenty of space for The Odyssey, Spider-Man 4, and more to have fruitful runs at the box office next summer.