Weekend Box Office: The Odyssey Holds Strong to Dominate with $87 Million
Christopher Nolan's epic became the sixth-highest grossing film of 2026, while Toy Story 5 crossed $1 billion worldwide.
Hollywood cleared the decks for Christopher Nolan this weekend and The Odyssey certainly took advantage of it. Certainly that is helped by tremendous word-of-mouth, some of the year’s best reviews and talk that it could break Oscar records already. The numbers certainly add to the lore of this mythic tale and theaters are enjoying the overall box office run right now. This weekend tied the post-pandemic record of 13 straight weeks with a top ten haul of over $100 million. Next week it will break that record. But let’s talk about this leg of the journey first.
King of the Crop: The Odyssey Holds Strong to Dominate with $87 Million
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey kept rolling along this week. It had the biggest Monday of 2026 with $18 million, besting Toy Story 5 ($17.3 million), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($16.8 million) and The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Memorial Day haul ($16.4 million). It had the second-biggest Tuesday of the year with $21 million, even beating The Dark Knight’s $20.86 million haul from 2008. Then it had the biggest Wednesday and Thursday of 2026 and the 12th-best Thursday ever after a Fri-Sun opening. This weekend the number was $87 million, a 29.6% drop, and if you want to know how spectacular that is, check out this list of the best drops for films opening to over $100 million:
Wicked: Part One (-27.9%)
Top Gun: Maverick (-28.9%)
The Odyssey (-29.6%)
Shrek 2 (-33.2%)
Frozen II (-34.0%)
Inside Out 2 (-34.4%)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (-36.9%)
Spider-Man (-37.8%)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (-39.8%)
The Jungle Book (2016) (-40.4%)
Barbie (-42.6%)
Wonder Woman (-43.3%)
Black Panther (-44.7%)
Finding Dory (-46.0%)
Alice in Wonderland (2010) (-46.0%)
Toy Story 3 (-46.2%)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (-46.7%)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (-47.6%)
Beauty and the Beast (2017) (-48.3%)
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (-48.3%)
Jurassic World (-49.0%)
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (-49.1%)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (-49.3%)
Out of 88 films that have opened over $100 million, those 23 are the only ones to drop less than 50%. Only 11 did it opening over $120 million, including now The Odyssey, whose 10-day total is at $286.3 million. That is the 26th best all time, and every film to have over $275 million in its first 10 days has reached at least $400 million. Depending on where the final numbers come in on Monday, The Odyssey just had the 13th-best second weekend of all time, passing Frozen II ($85.9 million) and (appropriately enough) Spider-Man: No Way Home ($84.52 million).
Toy Story 5’s second weekend was $70.8 million (a 55.6% drop), and it had $298 million in the bank after 10 days. The Odyssey is less than $12 million behind that. One rarely wants to compare the prowess of an R-rated film vs. the legs of a beloved family franchise, but as it heads into the dog days of the summer, a $500 million domestic gross is not off the table.
Since Christopher Nolan jettisoned Warner Bros. for Universal, he has given them their two highest-grossing R-rated films ever, besting their previous high of $218.8 million, courtesy of Seth MacFarlane’s Ted. Oppenheimer is currently 10th among Universal’s all-time live-action grossers and is set to be knocked out by The Odyssey. E.T. and Jurassic Park are currently fifth and sixth with $359.1 million and $357 million in their initial runs. The Odyssey should be just the sixth film in Universal’s history to surpass $400 million and just the fourth live-action film, a list that includes two Super Marios and two Jurassics. It is 18th all time for them right now and will pass Oppenheimer for 17th this week. Worldwide the film has surpassed $639 million in just 10 days. It is the sixth Hollywood release to pass the half-billion mark this year, with Spider-Man waiting in the wings.
Tales of the Top 10: Moana Continues to Struggle, Toy Story 5 Crosses $1 Billion
Disney’s live-action Moana got itself over $100 million, like over 850 films before it, but the other list it is going to join is much more exclusive and not the club one wants to be associated with. More on that in a moment, as we see it grossed $10.5 million in its third weekend to bring its 17-day total to $102.4 million. Now back to that list. Some of the biggest bombs of all time are among those 850+ films to gross over $100 million. They include the likes of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Superman Returns, Green Lantern, The Flash, Lightyear, Evan Almighty, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Cowboys & Aliens, and Wild Wild West. Moana also cracked the $100 million line on the international side of the ledger this week, but worldwide it has still only made $228 million, which is not going to cut it for the $250 million production.
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 is going to pass $450 million this week on the domestic side, but globally it is well over a billion. The film is just $12 million off the pace of Finding Dory, which had $460.2 million after 38 days, but after only a $7.2 million sixth weekend. With a $10 million sixth weekend, Toy Story 5 is definitely trending upwards to get over $480 million and is now the 59th Hollywood release to pass $1 billion globally in its initial release. All time it is in 55th place (for first runs) with $1.022 billion, and as it is the third Hollywood film to do it this year, 2026 has already matched 2025 in billion-dollar releases (Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Lilo & Stitch), with The Odyssey and Spider-Man coming in hot. Domestically Toy Story 5 is in 29th place, passing The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1 million) and Shrek 2 ($441.2 million). Toy Story 5 is headed into the top 25 of all time, though Spider-Man: Brand New Day will soon be chasing its crown this summer. There is room in the top 25 for both.
“You can’t die until the grosses go down.” So says little Danny to Jack Slater in Last Action Hero. That was not one of the classic movies referenced in Minions & Monsters, but Universal is unlikely to kill this franchise just yet. Even if the grosses are down a bit. But $9.6 million in its fourth weekend has the film over $155 million domestic, and its international total is now over $411 million. For what they spend on these movies, this is still a spectacular profit. It may still be just outside the 10 highest-grossing films of the year, but it is certainly in the top 10 in profitability. M&M is currently pacing $14 million behind Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which had a $10.9 million fourth weekend. That’s a respectable pace, as it could finish between $180-190 million while getting itself over the half-billion mark. All is good with the Minions.
Bleecker Street may want to stick with releasing musical-themed events. Earlier this year they had Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience!, which had a $5.69 million weekend, their second biggest ever at the time. This weekend they had the filmed stage version of Hadestown: The Musical and achieved their top opening with $9.6 million, besting Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky ($7.6 million) from 2017. In 2023 their release of Waitress: The Musical began with $3.5 million, which is now their sixth-biggest opening ever. Last year, even after being 41 years in the making, Spinal Tap II only managed a $1.69 million start and $4.8 million finish.
Last week we posted how Olivia Wilde’s The Invite had the third-best total among Sundance premieres since the pandemic. This upcoming week it should move into second place, ahead of Together’s $21.2 million. That is because it earned another $2.64 million to bring its total to $19.8 million this weekend. It will also finish higher than Sundance Oscar nominees The Kids Are All Right ($20.8 million) and Call Me by Your Name ($18.0 million). Still one of the best-reviewed films of the year, The Invite is being talked about in the same circle and has a chance to become one of the 25 highest-grossing Sundance premieres ever.
Evil Dead Burn is down to $2.6 million in its third weekend, bringing it over $29 million domestic. It may be a significant step down from Evil Dead Rise, but globally it is still over $63 million, which is still a solid win for Warner Bros.’ $20 million production. Angel Studios’ Young Washington grossed $1.9 million, bringing its total to $44.9 million. It doesn’t look like there will be enough “pay-it-forwards” out there for it to reach $50 million. It continues to follow a similar road taken by Oliver Stone’s Savages, which made $1.83 million in weekend four and had $43.99 million after 24 days, finishing with $47.3 million. Young Washington is going to finish a bit north of there.
IFC’s release of the mostly dialogue-free revenge film, Motor City, opened to $1.63 million this week in 1,600 theaters. That is their fifth-best opening ever, just behind Faces of Death from earlier this year, which also opened in 1,600 theaters and started with $1.64 million. Late Night with the Devil ($2.83 million), Good Boy ($2.34 million), and In a Violent Nature ($2.15 million) are still their top three, but that is now seven movies they have opened to over a million thanks to 1,000 screens or more.
On Blu-ray, on Peacock, and still in theaters, Curry Barker’s Obsession is still raking in the dough, grossing $1.5 million. The film is now over $261 million domestic and $458 million worldwide. The Odyssey has pushed it back to sixth on the highest-grossing films of the year. Tom Holland will do it a second time with Spider-Man, dropping it to seventh. Are there four more films this year to keep it from being in the top 10 of 2026?
Beyond the Top 10: Her Private Hell Opens Quietly for Neon
Neon’s release of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell garnered up $530,000 in 675 theaters. That is similar to when Broad Green Pictures released his last film, The Neon Demon, into 783 theaters in 2016 and it opened to $589,014. When he was coming off his most successful work, Drive, which grossed over $35 million domestic and $76 million worldwide, the release of his follow-up, Only God Forgives, into just 78 theaters opened to $313,958, more than half of his latest.
On The Vine: Spider-Man: Brand New Day Arrives
Marvel finally gets the chance to puts its stamp on this summer and it is expected to be a large one when Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens. The fourth film starring Tom Holland as the superhero is expected to be one of the highest-grossing films of the year and likely the summer. Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex with Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman also opens as does the re-release of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood.
Full List of Box Office Results: July 24-26
- The Odyssey – $87.0 million ($286.3 million total)
- Moana – $10.5 million ($102.4 million total)
- Toy Story 5 – $10.0 million ($448.5 million total)
- Hadestown: The Musical – $9.69 million ($9.6 million total)
- Minions & Monsters – $9.6 million ($155.3 million total)
- The Invite – $2.64 million ($19.8 million total)
- Evil Dead Burn – $2.61 million ($29.1 million total)
- Young Washington – $1.9 million ($44.9 million total)
- Motor City – $1.63 million ($1.63 million total)
- Obsession – $1.5 million ($261.3 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Universal Pictures
