Nolan’s “The Odyssey” Dethrones “Deadpool & Wolverine” To Become The Biggest R-Rated Movie In Box Office History

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“THE ODYSSEY” by Christopher Nolan did the impossible for a movie three-hour long. The 2026 R-rated adaptation of Homer’s popular epic has now become the highest grossing R-rated movie in box office history. “The Odyssey” collected $1.352 billion worldwide compared to $1.338 billion garnered by 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Under a six-week theatrical run, Nolan’s epic has surprised many watchers, given the fact that this was a non-franchise movie.

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The "Nolan Phenomenon" Takes Over The Box Office

“The Odyssey” released on July 17, 2026, in theatres worldwide and opened up with a strong $123 million domestic debut. It became an instant hit and couldn’t stop shattering records for a R-rated movie. So far, the movie earned $516.3 million domestically and $835.6 million internationally. The movie was a major success outside North America that helped it gain 61 percent of its worldwide total. Imax sales contributed over $354 million in revenue alone.

Though “Deadpool & Wolverine” still holds the record for the biggest global and domestic opening weekend for an R-rated film, at $444.7 million worldwide and $211.4 million domestically. “The Odyssey” opened up with $123.5 million on its domestic opening making it Nolan’s third career best on the box-office just behind the 2012 “Dark Knight Rises.” But due to The Odyssey’s long run in Imax, the film  steadily reached that mark.

The movie reportedly had a budget of $250 million as reported which resulted in their highly successful budget-to-gross ratio. Whereas “Deadpool & Wolverine” had a combined production and marketing budget of $537 million. That means Nolan’s The Odyssey reached its record within half of its outlay, which is a notable feat for a three-hour movie on a mythological book.

See Also: The Odyssey (2026) Review: How Nolan Made the Homeric Epic a Spiritual Sequel to Oppenheimer

Biggest Release For Nolan, Reynolds Congratulated For Taking Over The Record He Held With Hugh Jackman

Nolan has hit his career best. “The Odyssey” is now Nolan’s highest-grossing film and he did surpass his previous best, 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” which earned $1.085 billion. It has also become Imax’s biggest release ever, overtaking 2009’s “Avatar,” which brought in $271 million through the format. The movie also became the fifth release of the year to join the $1 billion club, and only the third R-rated movie to ever do so.

The star of the movie who is just dethroned by “The Odyssey” took time to react on this record. Deadpool himself—Ryan Reynolds—publicly congratulated Nolan and his team on X for dethroning his film and taking the mantle. Nolan credited some of the movie’s success to his previous movie, “Oppenheimer”. He said that “Oppenheimer” performed far better than he expected, eventually paving the way for “The Odyssey.”

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