Fans have noticed a strange pattern in Matt Damon’s filmography. Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar, Elysium, The Martian, and, now, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey are all films about a character who just wants to return home. According to a comment on Reddit, someone did the math and apparently the real-world cost to rescue him from his various movie predicaments, and it came to almost a trillion dollars. Fans are calling it the “Getting Home” cinematic universe, and the running joke online is that Matt Damon is Hollywood’s biggest damsel in distress.
He’s survived war zones and outer space, but, honestly, the guy just wants to go home. And the worst part is, he hardly ever gets to do that.
UPDATE (July 1, 2026): Two weeks ahead of its release, Universal has now released the final trailer for The Odyssey. And there’s still a lot of mystery. In fact, the fantasy elements of Homer’s original poem are barely there. Nolan has kept the best parts (or the more interesting parts) for the theater. We get just a glimpse of the Cyclops, no sirens, and no sign of Circe turning Odysseus’ men into pigs. The marketing team clearly understands that fans prefer to be wowed on the big screen.
Critics will see the film on July 6, but the review embargo only lifts on July 15. And yes, that’s only two days ahead of the film’s official release date. Usually that’s a sign that the studio is trying to avoid bad reviews, but with Nolan’s track record it probably means that they’re trying to avoid leaks. Even still, between the $250 million budget, the R rating, and all the controversial choices we’ve already seen in the trailers, The Odyssey is shaping up as one of Nolan’s biggest swings yet.
Watch the final trailer for The Odyssey below.
In Saving Private Ryan, Damon is dropped behind enemy lines in 1944. In Interstellar, he is stranded on a distant planet. In Elysium, he is stuck on a broken Earth trying his best to make his way to a new home on a space station. In The Martian, he finds himself all alone on Mars. And now, as Odysseus, he’s battling monsters and gods just to get back home to his wife, Ithaca.
The first full trailer for The Odyssey landed at midnight after Nolan, speaking to Stephen Colbert, confirmed the story unfolds in a non-linear structure. That’s no big surprise to fans of the filmmaker; nearly all his films play with time. And, of course, visually, the film looks huge too, with large-scale battles, a giant cyclops, and plenty of action.
The trailer shows us Damon’s Odysseus, a man who looks tired and worn down after fighting his way home. In what looks like dream-like sequences, he is visited by Charlize Theron’s Circe, who seems to be guiding him back. Meanwhile, back home, Robert Pattinson’s Antinous stirs trouble and his son, Telemachus, played by Tom Holland, goes out to search for his father.
At $250 million, The Odyssey had a huge production budget. In fact, it might be one of Nolan’s biggest yet – maybe only second to The Dark Knight Rises (which is reported to have cost between $250–300 million). But it’s also the first narrative feature shot entirely with IMAX cameras, which explains why tickets for 70mm screenings went on sale back in July 2025, a full year ahead of release.
The point is that getting Matt Damon home is becoming more and more expensive and maybe even more glamorous. One Reddit user summed it up best: “He’s always getting himself in a pickle AMIRIGHT?”
At this point, Damon’s “Getting Home” cinematic universe is filled with masterpieces (except maybe for Elysium). Who knows what he’ll need rescuing from next?
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