Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Overtakes Avatar: The Way of Water to Become Korea’s Biggest International Film

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has stormed past $1.78 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film ever and propelling the director into the top three all-time highest-grossing filmmakers globally. The film, a mythological epic adapted from Homer’s poem, opened with $123.5 million in its first weekend — $623.1 million in North America alone, and has since raked in over $1.157 billion overseas.

That puts it just shy of the $1.9 billion projection, but already ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water in South Korea, where it’s now the biggest international release of all time. Nolan’s global haul now exceeds $8 billion, vaulting him past the Russo brothers, who sit at $6.76 billion and are now ranked fourth. The film’s ensemble cast.

Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron, delivered on spectacle and scale, turning what was once a niche genre for Nolan into a box office juggernaut. No other filmmaker has cracked $8 billion before. Not even the Marvel machine. Not even James Cameron.