Friday numbers are in and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” looks set to take in $50 million on Friday (including previews), with estimates now at a $117-120 million domestic opening weekend.
Critics have widely praised the film with a 95% (8.7/10) score on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences seem to be in lock step with a 97% from over 2,500 verified ratings on the site. The film has also just received an ‘A’ CinemaScore in audience exit polls a rare achievement for an R-rated feature.
That’s the best opening for a live-action film this year and third behind only “Toy Story 5” ($159.6M) and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131.7M), and ahead of previous live-action topper “Michael” ($97.2M)
It’s almost double the biggest opening for a Matt Damon movie, that being “The Bourne Ultimatum” ($69.2M). It’s also the third highest start for Nolan after “The Dark Knight Rises” ($160.8M) and “The Dark Knight” ($158.4M).
Friday’s gross saw 25% come from IMAX screens, 25% from PLF screens, 5% from Imax 70MM screens, and 3% from regular 70MM – 58% of the footprint in total.
Comparison-wise to older films, the movie looks to be coming in somewhere around the “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” ($120.6M) and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” ($117.6M) level, though many are waiting to see if it might slip above $120M should it go strongly on Saturday – putting its start closer to “Top Gun: Maverick” ($126.7M) or Gunn’s “Superman” ($125M).
Worldwide, the film is expected to easily have a $200 million+ start and, more importantly, a long tail with IMAX screens nearly sold out for many weeks in several countries.
Disney’s “Moana” looks set to drop 56% in its second weekend to $19 million – not a bad hold but still this is looking like a money loser for Paramount. “Evil Dead Burn” is seeing a bigger fall of 64% to fifth place with $5 million. “Minions & Monsters” with $14.5 million and “Toy Story 5” with $13 million take the third and fourth spots.
Source: Deadline
