The Odyssey has now grossed $1.553 billion worldwide off a $250 million budget, cementing Christopher Nolan‘s Homer adaptation as one of 2026’s biggest hits despite months of online backlash over its casting.
On a recent episode of The Ringer’s The Town, box office expert Scott Henderson and Matt Belloni broke down whether that controversy actually cost the film anything at the box office.
Scott Henderson Weighs in On The Odyssey Controversy’s Real cost
The backlash centered on Lupita Nyong’o’s casting as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, along with Elliot Page‘s role as the soldier Sinon, criticism that pulled in figures like Elon Musk and Matt Walsh well before release. Henderson addressed the financial fallout directly.
“I would just like to say that I do think it’s worth noting that it’s quite possible that the online controversy over the casting of Lupita Nyongo and Elliot Page may have cost the film hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars at the global box office,” Henderson said.
Belloni, for his part, credited the film’s box office strength to how thoroughly Universal turned it into a theatrical event, regardless of the noise surrounding the cast.
“The reason this movie is doing what it’s doing is it was hyper eventized. The IMAX thing hyperventized it. So even if you didn’t see it in 70mm IMAX, it’s the kind of movie that justifies 70 millimeter IMAX. So it justifies my 20 bucks to go see it in theater. And I’ve got to do that. I’ve got to do it to keep up with the culture,” Belloni added.
Henderson also noted he made a point of watching the first 30 minutes in the least glamorous theater he could find, just to test whether the film held up outside a premium format, and said it still played great. He added that the ensemble itself was part of the draw, calling it a film that featured every major movie star in Hollywood.
With IMAX alone contributing well over $450 million to the total gross and 70mm showtimes still selling out into September, the numbers suggest whatever damage the casting discourse caused never meaningfully slowed ticket sales. The Odyssey remains Nolan’s highest-grossing film to date, backlash included.
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