07-21-2026 Daily Edition

July 21, 2026 Print ‘The Odyssey’ Seizes $124M Opening in Box Office Triumph Christopher Nolan's star-packed mythological epic revitalized the summer box office with this year's biggest live-action debut and the acclaimed filmmaker's highest-grossing global launch. Matt Damon is Odysseus in 'The Odyssey.' Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures Christopher Nolan ‘s The Odyssey led the summer box office to a major box office victory, as the industry at large celebrates the commanding opening weekend for the Universal Pictures epic. The retelling of classical Greek mythology got the box office back on track , scoring $124.5 million on 3,900 North American screens. Earning an A CinemaScore from audiences, the film sailed away to 2026’s biggest live-action opening, with only Toy Story 5 ($159 million) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131 million) debuting above it. The Odyssey also claimed the top R-rated opening of the year and Universal’s highest weekend launch ever for an R-rated movie. Globally, The Odyssey collected a sum of $264.1 million, adding $139.6 million from 73 international markets. The film marks Nolan’s biggest worldwide opening of all time, topping The Dark Knight Rises’ $249 million global launch in 2012. This counts as an even stronger start than initially projected for The Odyssey , which has a production budget of $250 million, as the studio was targeting a domestic opening in the mid-$80 million to $100 million range. Matt Damon , Tom Holland , Anne Hathaway , Robert Pattinson , Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron star in the story of Odysseus (Damon) on his tumultuous trip home after the Trojan War to reclaim his throne as the king of Ithaca and reunite with his wife Penelope (Hathaway). Nolan and Emma Thomas produce for Syncopy. The adaptation of Greek poet Homer’s sprawling work skewed male, as men made up 56 percent of the general audience and counted as more than three-quarters of ticket buyers among those above age 25. Half of the film’s audience fell between the ages of 18 and 34. With The Odyssey marking the first feature to be shot entirely on IMAX cameras , premium large formats have been a priority for many moviegoers, and cinephiles flocked to the 25 U.S. theaters that screen IMAX 70mm film. The title pulled $29.6 million from IMAX screens domestically for 23.8 percent of its North American haul, with an additional $22.2 million from IMAX showings internationally. Overall, PLFs of all brands accounted for 53 percent of the domestic total. This movie looks to notch the third-biggest opening weekend domestically of Nolan’s impressive career and the best outside of the Batman franchise, behind The Dark Knight Rises with $160 million and 2008’s The Dark Knight at $158 million. “Christopher Nolan continues to create films that are immersive theatrical events,” Universal president of domestic theatrical distribution Jim Orr tells The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “ The Odyssey is exactly the kind of movie on an epic scale that audiences want to truly experience together — exactly why the theatrical experience is unrivaled. All of us at Universal are incredibly proud to work with Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and everyone at Syncopy on this amazing film. The Odyssey , with its breathtaking scale and emotional storytelling, delivers an unforgettable entertainment experience for all audiences.” The Odyssey was the weekend’s sole new offering in wide release, unlike the filmmaker’s most recent title, Oppenheimer , which opened in July 2023 alongside Barbie as part of the phenomenon known as Barbenheimer. The film about the physicist who led the development of the atomic bomb opened to $82.4 million domestically and ultimately collected $975 million worldwide, and it won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and Nolan’s first best director Oscar. Nolan’s successful ride with The Odyssey was bolstered with enviable reviews , as its 95 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes makes it the best tally of his career, just ahead of The Dark Knight and Memento at 94 percent. The Odyssey is also “verified hot,” with a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from audiences. In his review for THR , chief film critic David Rooney deemed it “a meditative action movie both immense and intimate, albeit one whose flow is impeded by the inherently episodic nature of the nonlinear source material and some questionable casting choices.” Additionally, THR’ s list ranking Nolan’s movies places The Odyssey in second place, behind only The Dark Knight. “Movie fans across the country and around the world have been showing up to see The Odyssey in every conceivable format, demonstrating the great demand of seeing grand-scale entertainment like this on the big screen,” Cinema United president and CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement. Indeed, Hollywood breathes a sigh of relief after a few rocky recent weeks, including last weekend’s disappointing opening for Disney’s live-action Moana that followed underperforming debuts for Supergirl and Minions & Monsters . The Dwayne Johnson-led Moana docked in second place for its sophomore frame, scooping up $19 million domestically with a decline around 56 percent for a two-week run of $82.1 million in North America. Illumination’s Minions & Monsters and Disney’s Toy Story 5 are in close competition for No. 3 on the chart. As the latest title in Universal’s Despicable Me franchise, Minions & Monsters picked up $14.8 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic haul to $136 million. Meanwhile, the newest installment in the popular Toy Story series also lassoed $14.8 million in its fifth frame for a domestic sum of $430.9 million and now stands as the year’s top domestic release, sliding past The Super Mario Galaxy Movie . Toy Story 5 nears the billion-dollar mark globally with a worldwide cume at $958.4 million. Closing out the top five is Warner Bros.’ Evil Dead Burn , the latest entry in the Evil Dead horror franchise . After its opening sum last weekend was well behind the debut of 2023’s Evil Dead Rise , Evil Dead Burn grossed around $5 million this weekend, declining around 66 percent for a two-week domestic total at $24.1 million. Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina presents potential competition for moviegoing, particularly among international audiences. In a summer rarity, next weekend is without new wide releases, as studios skipped the chance to date any titles between The Odyssey and Sony’s anticipated July 31 release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day , also starring Holland and Zendaya. Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS, Shakira Headline Jam-Packed First-Ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show The show featured an acoustic number from Bieber, an energetic dance performance from Shakira and nods to soccer throughout, with rewritten BTS lyrics and appearances from legendary players and 'Ted Lasso' stars. Madonna, BTS, Shakira and Justin Bieber are performing on Sunday. XNY/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images; NDZ/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images; Christopher Polk/Billboard/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images Madonna , BTS , Justin Bieber and Shakira headlined the first-ever FIFA World Cup Finals Halftime Show on Sunday, playing a packed 11-minute mega-mix that also featured Burna Boy, the New York Philharmonic’s Gustavo Dudamel and The Muppets. Madonna kicked off the show, throttling through the New York-New Jersey stadium tunnels in a dune buggy, fittingly driven by renowned Brazilian soccer players Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, in a pre-recorded segment. In the segment, the pop star sang a new version of her 2000 hit “ Music ” infused with elements of “Disco Inferno” and “Danceteria,” before appearing live on the pitch and handing over the baton to conductor Gustavo Dudamel. He led musicians from the New York Philharmonic and Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in a rendition of “Seven Nation Army,” with Iranian violinist Bijan Mortazavi and The Muppets’ rock group Electric Mayhem, in one of several Muppets appearances. K-pop superstars BTS took to the pitch with a football-inspired performance of their hit “Dynamite,” with a lead in from a video of Norway’s rowing chant and rewritten lyrics for the halftime show. Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt then popped up on field in character as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard from their Apple TV series, as they encouraged Justin Bieber before he took the pitch to cheers from the crowd. Bieber then took the volume down with a soulful rendition of his 2025 song “Everything Hallelujah,” before handing it over to Shakira and Burna Boy, who brought the noise back up, in a highlight of the halftime show, and performed the official song of the FIFA World Cup “Dai Dai,” alongside Uganda’s Ghetto Kids, dancing in a sea of yellow costumes. Off-camera, a group of rainbow-shirted schoolchildren snuck onto the field to ready for the finale. The schoolchildren, from Staten Island’s PS22, were joined by Coldplay, more Muppets, and Australian singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly, who debuted “We Dance,” an original song written by Coldplay for the halftime show. The pitch, which was covered by a rainbow-colored tarp to protect the grass, was filled with dancers holding colorful balls, as fans in the stadium waved the colorful flags found in all the seats. The halftime programming was curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen, which has a goal of raising $100 million for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, with $1 from each ticket throughout the World Cup donated to the fund. The 80,000-capacity New York New Jersey stadium was packed with few empty seats in the sea of red and white and blue at the final matchup of Spain versus Argentina. President Trump was a confirmed attendee, with celebrities including Pharrell, Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Will Ferrell also spotted in the crowd. And while Shakira drew big cheers, as did the appearance of Bieber, these paled in comparison to the cheers and oh’s and ah’s in the crowd throughout the gripping final. The show marked Bieber’s first public performance since his much-discussed headlining set at Coachella back in April and came on the heels of Madonna’s new dance-pop album Confessions II and amid the Arirang world tour for K-pop group BTS , which is returning to touring after band members took a three-year hiatus to complete mandatory military service. BTS arrived in New York this morning after perfroming a show last night at Paris’s Stade de France. Live Nation and Done + Dusted also served as producers on the show. In an interview before the show, executive producer Guy Carrington of Done+Dusted said the team had spent “months and months preparing this,” and had a goal of presenting a wide-ranging show, while adhering to a tight schedule so as to interference with the match. Players were still coming off the pitch after the first half at about 3:55 p.m. ET, with a crew wheeling out a stage and then kicking off the about 11-minute halftime performance around 4:01 pm ET. “This was always about bringing together the world’s top performers and creating a real moment of collaboration and unity,” Carrington told THR . Post Malone headlined the pre-show, which began 90 minutes before kickoff, singing a new song “Crome Heartbreaker,” as well as his 2018 hit “Wow,” as well as “Sunflower,” his smash with Swae Lee from Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Swae came out for the latter track as well. Also appearing was iShowSpeed, who danced across an image of the Empire State Building and reminded the crowd, “This is the World Cup.” Special care was taken to try to protect the grass field, with a crew spreading a larger covering of the New York City skyline over the field for the pre-show, and sprinklers turned on after the performance. Before the match, Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini joined Robbie Williams to sing “Desire,” the official FIFA anthem penned by Williams, with Jennifer Hudson singing the U.S. national anthem. Williams escorted Scherzinger and Pausini off the pitch, hand in hand, before the national anthems from Spain and Argentina. Tom Cruise also came onto the pitch to give a speech about the importance of the sport, stating “Football has no language,” while the crowd’s chanting of “Olé, Olé, Olé” continued, uninterrupted. ‘Shark Tank’ Star Kevin O’Leary Sued After Claiming Data Center Critics Had Connections With China Fox News is also named in the suit for airing O'Leary's comments. Kevin O’Leary Monica Schipper/Getty Images Kevin O’Leary , a businessman and Shark Tank star, is being sued for defamation after going on Fox News and accusing some opponents of his Utah AI data center plans of being backed by China. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in a Utah federal district court by Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Gabrielle Finlayson and Josh Kanter, The New York Times and Business Insider reported. It alleged that as a result of O’Leary’s on-air attacks, Finlayson and Kanter “suffered devastating reputational harm, significant economic losses, severe emotional distress, and ongoing threats to their physical safety.” “Fox was instrumental in O’Leary’s defamatory smear campaign, putting him on air to attack Plaintiffs five times in three weeks. Despite O’Leary’s inherently unreliable claims, and his clear lack of support for them, Fox repeatedly invited O’Leary onto its programs and allowed him to broadcast his false accusations to millions of viewers without any qualification,” the complaint stated. The suit reportedly listed at least 10 media appearances in May and June where O’Leary repeated similar accusations, including his Fox News appearance, where he accused Finlayson and Kanter of serving as “proxies for the Chinese government.” In response to the suit, Fox News Media said in a statement that it “publicly corrected the record on every program where on-air guest Kevin O’Leary’s comments were made, all of which was extensively publicized. We will vigorously defend against this lawsuit.” The Hollywood Reporter has also reached out to O’Leary’s attorney for comment. In an Instagram post last month, the Marty Supreme actor didn’t apologize for his claims, but said he “would like to clarify that I have no evidence that Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Gabrielle Finlayson, Taylor Knuth or Josh Kanter are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party.” John Leguizamo Has Never Been as Vulnerable as in ‘The Odyssey’: “It Was So Intense for Me” "Working with Chris Nolan...you feel really seen," the actor behind Eumaeus tells The Hollywood Reporter in a wide-ranging conversation. "I was able to tap into these really difficult, painful emotions from the depth of my soul." John Leguizamo Corey Nickols/Getty Images for IMDb [This story contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan ‘s The Odyssey .] John Leguizamo has made all kinds of movies and TV series over his 40-year-long acting career, shining in recurring collaborations with the likes of Baz Luhrmann ( Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! ) and Jon Favreau ( Chef, The Mandalorian ). But for the Colombian native, it’s often required a director seeing him outside the box to let him show what he can do. His solo performances on stage, particularly shows like Latin History for Morons and Freak , have won him Emmys and Tonys and widespread acclaim — and reminded that there’s far more to the Tisch alum than the big screen has often held. “It’s as if, because I’m a Latin man, I always have to play the villain or the aggressor or a perp,” he says. But Christopher Nolan saw something very different in Leguizamo, seeking him out for one of the most significant roles in his take on The Odyssey . The Oscar-winning director cast the actor as Eumaeus, the faithful servant of Odysseus ( Matt Damon ) coming to terms with his grief over his master’s prolonged absence. While he waits and holds out hope, though, he cannily operates behind the scenes, counseling Odysseus’ son Telemachus ( Tom Holland ) on how to step up, and maneuvering as best he can to ensure that Odysseus’ wife Penelope ( Anne Hathaway ) and family are not ruined by the chaos infiltrating Ithaca. What results is a delicate, moving, heartbreaking performance from Leguizamo that emerges as the heartbeat of the film — particularly when Odysseus returns home in disguise, and a disempowered Eumaeus lets all of the emotions bubble to the surface. He is the kind of guy who feels very close to Leguizamo, but he hasn’t gotten the chance to put on screen. He spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about what it felt like to finally do so. You’ve been traveling around the world with this movie for the last few weeks. What has the rollout been like? Oh my God, insane. It was the biggest premiere I’ve ever been a part of in my entire life. Second closest was Moulin Rouge at Cannes. That was spectacular, but this was even, I don’t know — I mean, there was a Trojan Horse in London, the biggest stars in the world all lined up. You could barely fit us all in one lineup. They had to make us do prom-style, sideways. “Don’t stand full front. You have to spoon next to each other.” And it’s not even all of us! It was different days when different folks were available. I love the more intimate behind-the-stage, behind-the-spotlight scenes. Dinner with Lupita [Nyong’o], Charlize [Theron], Emma Thomas and Nolan and my wife — that was sweet. Seeing Matt Damon and his kids at the hotel, just hanging out after an exhausting day, having a lovely time with his posse — and he’s got a posse. That was really cool. And then seeing Zendaya and Tom [Holland], those moments were really nice, where people are just being themselves. John Leguizamo is Eumaeus in ‘The Odyssey.’ Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal You have one of the biggest roles in the film. There was so much hype around The Odyssey to begin with, so how would you describe the journey, from getting cast to seeing it for the first time? Who would’ve thought that, at my age, things could get better? All the highlights you thought were highlights are no longer highlights — I mean, this is the zenith. It definitely feels like it. I’m such a lover of artists and auteurs and chasing the impossible. I love that journey, that impossible journey that artists take. It started from the script, which was phenomenal. Meeting Chris, just hanging out with him for a two-hour lunch before he offered me the part and hearing him tell me the tales of his life. He told me all about his life and his aspirations and struggles. It was such a beautiful sharing. I was like, “Wow, this man is so present and so vulnerable.” When I saw the movie, it was my wife and I at Nolan’s favorite theater, the Lincoln Square 13. I knew it was Row G that’s supposed to be optimal, so we sat in Row G. It was just us and maybe four other people in the entire theater. It was a very, very empty experience at the beginning. Then all of a sudden it starts and you’re like, “Whoa, it’s so massive. The score is so unbelievably beautiful.” My wife doesn’t cry at movies and she gripped my hand and she was weeping and then I was weeping. I wasn’t sure if I was weeping because of her or because of Matt Damon’s incredible monologue at the end where he has remorse over his whole entire life that hit me so hard. It’s the beauty of what Chris did. I’ve never seen you play a character like this before. Why do you think he thought of you for it? I don’t know. I don’t know either! My wife has been saying that lately when we’ve been sitting down at meals. It’s as if, because I’m a Latin man, I always have to play the villain or the aggressor or a perp. So for him to think of me that way, it was fascinating. I didn’t ask him. It wasn’t a question that came to me. At lunch, I didn’t want to like, “Oh no, you’re making a mistake.” ( Laughs ) It’s so unusual, but I feel like Eumaeus is more me than a lot of things I’ve been in. Chris sold it to me, as if he had to sell me anything, but he said, “He’s the most loyal character in Western literature.” Loyalty to me is such a huge, huge virtue for me. If I could be a sociologist, it’s also such a huge part of Latin culture to be loyal to family, loyal to a friend. It’s loyalty above everything else. What does that do for you, to play somebody who feels a little bit closer to you? How did that inform the way you played Eumaeus? Well, the emotions come easier. Choices come easier. When I was younger, I also liked playing things that were as far away from me as possible because I thought that’s what real acting was, the real challenge. But as you get older, it is so much nicer to be in your own shoes and to mine the depths of the subtleties of all of your life experience. I was able to call upon that for this role. I didn’t realize how emotional the role was until I was in the location. What I’m talking about with Eumaeus, waiting for my master to come back, only living for my master, I don’t have a family or anything — I just live for him and teach his son, take care of his dog, My whole life has been of service to him. Then having a breakdown like that when [Odysseus] is back, it was so intense for me. I’ve never really been that vulnerable. Working with Chris Nolan, he’s so present because he stands right behind the camera, old-school. He operates in terms of chasing the acting, the moments, the beats, the intimacy of things. You get a chance to really be with him and you feel really seen. I was able to tap into these really difficult, painful emotions from the depth of my soul. It’s interesting to hear you describe that level of vulnerability. Thinking about how a movie like this is made and these epic sets, working within the IMAX format — I’d assume that’d be competing with the internal work. Right. It’s so brilliant [and] because Chris goes there. That’s what gives us all courage — he goes there. He’s inside the [Trojan] Horse. He doesn’t have to do that. How many directors do you know who are at Video Village? He’s standing out there. When I started shooting, my stuff was on top of a 900-foot cliff with the winds crashing on you. Everything’s poisonous on top of the hill; if you break the plants, the seed can blind you. And already I was blind because of my contacts. You could fall to your death, but you’re not going to because we had incredible stunt crews. We were always safe, but these places were inaccessible. So this grand scope, 360 views of the Mediterranean with winds — and then boom, we go into my shack and I’m having a fever dream in this private moment with a 300-pound camera over my face and Nolan’s right behind it. And you know Homer was blind, right? I’m blind in the movie as well. I never asked him, but I thought that Chris was conflating Eumaeus with Homer in a way.... I love the idea. They were specially fabricated lenses that were hand-painted and they did cataracts in both my eyes. One is really cataract and the other one’s partially cataract. Eumaeus is not so much of a presence in Homer’s The Odyssey . Did you go back to the text, or if not, how did you develop Eumaeus beyond the actual script? I was doing as much research as I could on Wikipedia online about Eumaeus and what he represented, and then looking at the Greek vases, Greek sculptures, to see if there was any clue there for me on the behavior. There’s not that much in The Odyssey , the book, about Eumaeus. That was fascinating how Chris concocted this character. Benny Safdie, Lupita Nyong’o, Leguizamo, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas at the London premiere. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Universal Pictures The character is blind, as you mentioned, and you’re also aged up considerably. It’s a pretty transformative part for you. What was that like? When he told me I was going to be older and I was going to have aging makeup, being the method actor that I am, I started studying older people and how they moved. When he told me I was going to be sight-impaired, I was like, “OK. Oh, wow.” I have a high school friend who’s legally blind, so I studied her a lot. We hung out. Then I started doing my method: going around the house with all the lights off, trying to get from one place to the other at night, trying to walk around and see what is it that you do to protect yourself and how do you memorize furniture and spaces, as my friend told me about. Then the hair, Chris and I both don’t believe in wigs. I have a very hard time with wigs on actors. It always looks like it’s floating for some reason. So we bleached the hell out of my scalp for five hours one day, five hours the next. The makeup took six hours the first day because it was really beautifully laid on by Luisa Abel, who’s incredible. And I have bags: They squeeze my throat and put glue and squeeze my face and put glue, which stretches all my skin. Then age spots. Just the craziness of it all. And I couldn’t see! I couldn’t really see. What does it mean, to you, to be a method actor? Well, lots of research, lots of putting yourself in the experiences of the character you’re creating, talking to people. Then having a real experience — not imitating an experience, but going through something. I think Nolan was watching a method actor like me for the first time and he was intrigued by what I was doing because I had to work myself into a mood. I’m talking to myself, jumping up and down, hitting myself, yelling, crying. Then I’m in the scene and I’m going through crazy things and he’s watching it. He was fascinated by what it takes. Everybody does a little method, but definitely it’s something that I really believe in because it’s what changed my acting for me. Did you have a favorite day on set? My favorite day was when I did my fever-dream scene after I’d done all my method preparation and I was freezing — because it was freezing up there. I’m in basically a mini dress and it was so cold, and Nolan saw that I was shivering, he took off his coat and put it over me. Matt was there; he cracked me up. He said, “I’ve been in the ocean for six months being whipped around and you give him the coat!” So that must have meant something. The bond between you and Matt is so core to the movie and your performance. What did that look like off-screen and then putting that on camera? We’ve stayed close. We exchanged numbers. He came to see my play, which was such a beautiful gesture. We went to the World Cup together to see Colombia play Portugal in Miami. He’s a really genuine, regular, cool guy, and he’s funny. He’s funny as fuck. So that’s a big plus. I love funny people. You mentioned earlier sometimes being typecast in various roles. One of the exciting things about this movie is it does feel unbelievably representative in breaking down a lot of casting barriers, especially for period movies, right? Oh, absolutely. I mean, there was a time where all period movies were just all white and all British-sounding. ( Laughs ) It’s so refreshing to hear this period piece with American accents. I loved it. I felt like, “Oh my God, it doesn’t make it sound stereotypical.” It just feels different. It feels more accessible, feels more real. I don’t know why. And then the casting, I mean, it’s like Lin-Manuel [Miranda] showed us colorblind casting is a powerful thing. Look at that, the biggest hit in Broadway history. Do you know what I mean? It made it so vital, so relatable, so fresh. And we were all around back then. It wasn’t like we just appeared out of nowhere as a spontaneous generation. I was so excited by this opportunity and the beauty of being a part of a work of art. I feel like this movie is a work of art. Chris Nolan’s magnum opus. To be a part of something like that, of a master, craftsman, innovator, a visionary — it’s just so incredible that he saw something in me that would help him bring his dream to fruition. It’s an incredible compliment that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. I don’t know, I feel so arrived, in a way. What do you mean by that? I’ve landed. All my gifts and everything, all my talent and all my hard work, have brought me to this place.