The Odyssey has been marinating in hype for months. Now, Universal Pictures has finally pulled the curtain back on the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to Oppenheimer, The Odyssey. And yes, it played in theaters first. Nolan is still a firm believer that movies should hit you in the chest at the IMAX, not politely tap you on the shoulders on your couch at home.
Many are calling it Nolan’s most expensive project. Shot entirely with IMAX cameras. A cast ensemble so huge it reads like an awards-season seating chart. The trailer leans into scale and sound, the kind that rattles seats and dares you to blink.
You can already tell this wasn’t made for Netflix.
RELATED: Christopher Nolan Shot More Than Two Million Feet of Film For The Odyssey
Adapting Homer’s 8th-century BCE epic was never going to be easy or accurate or tidy. This is a story that laughs at reasonable runtimes and shrugs at simplicity. Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, trying to get home after the Trojan War, while Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal and Mia Goth orbit the chaos.
The trailer for The Odyssey rolled online after debuting in cinemas alongside Avatar: Fire and Ash, with a longer prologue reserved for lucky theatergoers. It’s a classic Nolan move to reward the crowd that shows up.
The Odyssey lands in theaters on July 17, 2026. Expect a long runtime and big swings. This is why theaters still matter. You don’t half-watch something like this. You experience it on the biggest screen possible.
RELATED: Christopher Nolan Claims The Odyssey IMAX Upgrade Solves the Sound Problems Fans Complained About
