Box office: already 640 million dollars in revenue for The Odyssey!

Christopher Nolan remains at the top of the US box office with a colossal second weekend.

Nothing seems to be able to stop The Odyssey in the heart of summer.

For its second weekend of release, Christopher Nolan’s film added $87 million at the American box office.

After starting at $123.5 million, the film only declined 30%, an exceptional performance for an R-rated blockbuster. For comparison, blockbusters that open above $100 million typically see a decline of 50% or more in their second weekend. Buoyed by excellent word of mouth and the public’s enthusiasm for IMAX screenings and other premium formats, the epic with Matt Damon in the role of Ulysses now posts 286.4 million dollars in revenue in the United States and 639.6 million worldwide after only fifteen days of operation. A mind-blowing total, far above Oppenheimer in 2023. Moreover, Ulysses could double as the biopic of the father of the atomic bomb next week in the USA (the film had totaled 330 million dollars in revenue in North America at the end of its career).

With a production budget estimated at 250 million dollars, to which would be added around 125 million in marketing expenses, Universal already seems on the verge of succeeding in its bet. The studio can also count on a probable career at the Oscars to extend the success of the film in the coming months.

The real test, however, will come next weekend with the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The return of Tom Holland could turn away some of the public, even if exhibitors are especially delighted to see two behemoths filling the theaters during a month of August that is usually calmer.

Behind Nolan, Disney places two films on the podium. The live-action remake of Moana remains in second place with $10.5 million for its third weekend (-40%). The film has now totaled 102.5 million in the United States and 228.2 million worldwide. A result that is still insufficient considering its budget of 250 million dollars, which leaves doubts about its profitability in theaters. Just behind, Toy Story 5 continues to attract families with an additional $10 million for its sixth weekend of operation. That’s a drop of only 27%. The film has now earned $448.6 million in North America and $573.5 million internationally. With more than a billion dollars in global revenue in its sights, it is even preparing to exceed the 1.07 billion collected by Toy Story 4 in 2019 and become the biggest success of the entire Woody franchise!

In fourth place, Minions and Monsters resist as best he can.

Illumination’s new film reaches $155 million in American revenue and is approaching 400 million worldwide. A nice score for a budget of 85 million, but significantly lower than the previous parts of the saga Despicable Mewhich regularly exceeded 900 million, even a billion dollars. A sign of running out of steam which could encourage Universal to let the Minions rest a little before their next adventure.

The nice surprise of the weekend comes from Hadestown: The Musical. Filming of the famous Broadway show starts at $9.6 million in 1,949 theaters, a launch almost equivalent to that of Hamilton in 2020, which opened to 10.1 million on a comparable number of copies.