Box Office Results: ‘The Odyssey’ Crushes Record Weekend

Christopher Nolan’s mythic epic pulls in $124.5 million as Moana’s slide continues and summer moviegoing roars back to life

Box office results for the weekend of July 17 through July 19, 2026 tell a clear story: audiences showed up in a big way. Christopher Nolan’s mythic epic “The Odyssey” pulled in $124.5 million domestically in its opening weekend, powering the top 10 movies to a combined $193.4 million and giving Hollywood its best few days in more than a month. But the same box office results that crowned a new king also confirmed a hard truth for Disney’s live-action “Moana,” which kept sliding toward disappointment, and for Warner Bros.’ “Evil Dead Burn,” which watched ticket sales collapse by nearly two-thirds in its second week. Here is what the numbers say, who is celebrating, who is licking their wounds, and what Central New York movie fans should watch for next weekend.

The Weekend’s Box Office Results at a Glance

The overall domestic box office pulled in an estimated $193.4 million over the three-day frame, according to studio estimates reported by Boxoffice Pro. That is a 43 percent jump from the previous weekend and a 36 percent increase compared to the same weekend in 2025. A few numbers stand out.

• “The Odyssey” opened at number one with $124.5 million domestically and $264.1 million worldwide.
• Total top 10 gross of $193.4 million marked the best weekend since early summer.
• “Moana” dropped 56 percent in its second weekend, a steep fall for a $250 million production.
• “Evil Dead Burn” fell 64 percent, one of the roughest second-weekend holds of the summer.
• The domestic box office remains on pace to approach $10 billion for the year.

‘The Odyssey’ Sails to a Record-Breaking Opening

Universal’s three-hour adaptation of Homer’s epic poem did not just win the weekend. It rewrote parts of the record book. Directed by Christopher Nolan and led by Matt Damon as Odysseus, the film opened in 3,919 theaters and pulled in $124.5 million domestically, the third-best opening of 2026 behind only “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” It is also the biggest live-action debut of the year and the largest R-rated opening weekend Universal has ever recorded.

The star-studded cast, including Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o, drew an audience that skewed older than most summer blockbusters. Nearly half of ticket buyers were between 35 and 55 years old, proof that adult moviegoers will still turn out for the right event picture. Critics loved it too, with a 95 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” grade on CinemaScore, an exit-poll rating system that measures how much opening-weekend audiences actually enjoyed a film.

Premium formats did the heavy lifting. IMAX screens alone brought in $29.6 million domestically, about 24 percent of the entire opening weekend, even though IMAX represents only a small slice of total American movie screens. “The Odyssey” was filmed entirely on IMAX cameras, a first for a feature film, and some of the 33 North American theaters equipped with 70mm IMAX projectors ran sold-out screenings at two and three in the morning to meet demand.

Cinema United, the trade group representing movie theater owners, credited the film with reviving a summer that had been stuck in neutral. President and CEO Michael O’Leary praised fans for turning out “in every conceivable format” to see the film the way it was meant to be seen, on the biggest screen possible.

Why a Three-Hour, R-Rated Epic Worked

Conventional wisdom says long runtimes and restrictive ratings scare off casual moviegoers. “The Odyssey” broke that rule the same way “Oppenheimer” did in 2023. Fandango box office analyst Shawn Robbins summed up why one filmmaker keeps beating the odds, joking that there are only two certainties left in life: “Death, taxes, and Christopher Nolan.” Nolan has now built a track record where his name alone can sell tickets, regardless of subject matter, running time or rating, something almost no other working director can claim.

The Box Office Results Nobody Wanted: This Weekend’s Flops

Not every studio had reason to celebrate. Three films in particular illustrate how quickly a summer release can go from hopeful to forgettable.

Moana’s Fall From Grace

Disney’s live-action remake of “Moana” opened on July 10 to $43 million, a disappointing start for a film that reportedly cost around $250 million to produce before marketing. Early tracking had projected an opening closer to $60 million. Reviews were unkind, with Rotten Tomatoes critics giving it just 34 percent, worse than other much-maligned Disney live-action remakes like “Snow White” and “Dumbo.” This past weekend, “Moana” fell another 56 percent to $19 million, bringing its domestic total to $82 million and its worldwide haul to roughly $178 million. Against a quarter-billion-dollar budget, those box office results put the film squarely in bomb territory before marketing and distribution costs are even factored in.

‘Evil Dead Burn’ Gets Buried Fast

Warner Bros. and New Line’s “Evil Dead Burn” opened on July 10 with $13.7 million, already a step down from 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise,” which debuted to $24.5 million. This past weekend, the horror sequel collapsed by 64 percent to just $5 million, dropping it to fifth place with a domestic total of $24.1 million. A middling 72 percent critics’ score and a “B” CinemaScore suggest audiences were not compelled to spread the word, a bad sign for a genre that usually relies on word of mouth to build legs.

‘Supergirl’ Still Struggling to Find an Audience

Warner Bros.’ DC tentpole “Supergirl” has never recovered from a soft opening weekend. The film debuted well below its studio’s $50 to $55 million target and has continued to fade in its fourth week, earning just $1.5 million this past weekend for a domestic total under $70 million. It is one of several big-budget franchise films this year, alongside “Moana” and “Evil Dead Burn,” that prove a familiar name on the marquee is no longer a guarantee of box office success.

The Full Top 10 for the Weekend of July 17 to 19

1. The Odyssey (Universal) – $124.5 million weekend, $124.5 million total
2. Moana (Disney) – $19 million weekend, $82.1 million total
3. Toy Story 5 (Disney) – $14.8 million weekend, $430.9 million total
4. Minions & Monsters (Universal) – $14.8 million weekend, $137.6 million total
5. Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros.) – $5 million weekend, $24.1 million total
6. The Invite (A24) – $3.9 million weekend, $15 million total
7. Young Washington (Angel Studios) – $3.7 million weekend, $41 million total
8. Obsession (Focus Features) – $2.5 million weekend, $258.5 million total
9. Supergirl (Warner Bros.) – $1.5 million weekend, $70 million total
10. Disclosure Day (Universal) – $1.5 million weekend, $114.7 million total

Elsewhere on the chart, Lionsgate’s music biopic “Michael” quietly crossed $1 billion worldwide during its eleventh week in theaters, a reminder that patient, well-reviewed films can still find an audience long after opening weekend fades from the headlines.

What These Box Office Results Mean for Central New York Moviegoers

These box office results ripple all the way down to screens in the Mohawk Valley. Local moviegoers can catch “The Odyssey” and the rest of this week’s top 10 at theaters serving the Utica area, including Marquee Cinemas’ Orchard 14 in New Hartford, one of the region’s main first-run multiplexes. Families choosing between “Moana,” “Minions & Monsters” and “Toy Story 5” this week have three family-friendly options still playing locally, even as national numbers show the animated and family slate cannibalizing itself.

For readers who prefer the full IMAX or 70mm experience that has driven so much of “The Odyssey” hype, that premium format is largely limited to major metro markets, so Central New Yorkers wanting the biggest possible screen may need to plan a trip to Syracuse or Albany. For everyone else, a standard local screening still delivers Nolan’s three-hour epic the way most of the country will see it.

Next Weekend’s Box Office Predictions

Looking ahead to the weekend of July 24 through 26, no major studio is launching a wide release to challenge “The Odyssey” head-on. Instead, the schedule is filled with smaller counterprogramming: Neon’s arty sci-fi horror film “Her Private Hell,” from director Nicolas Winding Refn, and “Motor City,” a mostly dialogue-free revenge thriller starring Alan Ritchson, both in limited release. Early reviews are mixed to modest for both.

That leaves “The Odyssey” in a strong position to repeat as the number one movie in America, though history suggests a significant second-weekend drop is likely for a three-hour, star-driven epic that leaned heavily on advance ticket sales and premium-format bookings in its first week. Early industry chatter has floated a second-weekend total somewhere in the neighborhood of $45 to $55 million, but that figure is an estimate, not a confirmed result, and actual numbers will not be official until next Sunday and Monday’s studio reports. We will update readers with confirmed figures once they are released.

The bigger fireworks are still two weekends away, when Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” arrives July 31 and is expected to be one of the biggest openings of the back half of 2026.

The Bottom Line for Movie Fans

This weekend proved that audiences have not given up on the theatrical experience. They just want something worth leaving the house for. Christopher Nolan and Universal gave them that reason, while Disney, Warner Bros. and other studios learned once again that a familiar brand name does not guarantee a crowd. If you have not made it to the theater yet this summer, “The Odyssey” is worth the trip, and Central New York’s local screens are ready for you. Grab your popcorn, check showtimes at your nearest theater, and let us know in the comments which movie has earned your ticket money this summer. Check back with the Utica Phoenix next week as we track how “The Odyssey” holds up and whether any new contender can knock it off the top of the chart.