Waking up before dawn isn’t always fun. But driving twenty-five miles into the Philadelphia suburbs? Worth it.
I needed to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Not just on a screen, but in 70mm IMAX. That’s the only format that makes sense for a Homeric epic. The theater in King of Prussia was one of the last in the Northeast that actually handled this tech.
Arriving, the mood wasn’t exactly celebratory. A crowd of fans, some in sweatshirts screaming “NOLAN” across their chests, shifted their weight and grumbled. The lights were off. The power had died. The 8 a.m. screening? Canceled.
Employees stood around, manually writing down ticket numbers. Handing out vouchers with apologetic shrugs. Fans complained about lost PTO. About missing the intended format. I thought maybe this was sabotage. Maybe someone didn’t want this film to exist.
The Truth About Anti-The Odyssey Backlash
It wasn’t sabotage.
The region had been battered by extreme weather. Power grids failed. Dozens of outages hit the area that week. This cinema? It had been struggling with stability for weeks. Simple infrastructure failure, nothing more.
The Odyssey has faced threats since day one. But not from rivals. From the internet.
Specifically, from a corner of X (formerly Twitter) where right-wing voices, amplified by figures like Elon Musk, have waged war on the film. Their complaints? Black and trans actors in casting calls. Matt Damon playing a clever Greek king. Tom Holland calling someone “dad” in a trailer. American accents where Ancient Greek should be.
To these critics, the film isn’t entertainment. It’s a “psyop.” A deliberate attempt to dismantle Western culture. When Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 96% critic score, they called it a “woke conspiracy.” They downvoted trailers. They urged friends to stay home.
And yet?
How Much Will The Odyssey Make?
The boycott failed. Miserably.
Early box office projections are sitting at a $200 million worldwide opening. That number ignores the global rollout, which will push totals higher. If The Odyssey hits $1 billion globally, it won’t be a surprise.
For a Nolan film without Batman in the lead? That’s his highest-grossing start.
Ticket resale prices have skyrocketed. Fans pay $1,000 for a single seat. Why? Because they want to be there. Opening weekend. Huge screen. No spoilers.
One story circulated about a woman in California delaying pregnancy confirmation. Just to watch the premiere uninterrupted on IMAX 70mm.
Die-hards drive across state lines. Across borders.
Is this unexpected? No. Nolan is the master of theatrical event cinema. He knows how to make people buy tickets. He knows how to sell a experience. The chasm between online rage and box office reality is huge.
You can dislike a director’s politics. You can hate a trailer.
But you cannot kill the human desire for spectacle.
People still want to see famous actors battle monsters. They want witches on a big screen. They want a story.
Why Hate Fails Against Big Blockbusters
This conflict highlights a weird disconnect. The “Discourse” online exists in a bubble. It feeds on outrage. On Western chauvinism. On racism. It’s performative.
Reality exists elsewhere.
Think of a scene from The Simpsons. Marge makes a fake cake. She wants Homer to destroy it, so he doesn’t ruin Maggie’s real birthday cake later. X is the fake cake here. The hate is staged. It consumes attention without impacting the actual product.
The infrastructure of outrage is monetized. It sells clicks. It doesn’t sell movies.
Who Should You Watch: Nolan vs. AI Films
If the haters still feel defeated, there’s one last option.
AI studio Fountain 0 announced an AI-generated version of The Odyssey . Coming out early this week.
It’s cheap. It’s rushed. It’s designed to cash in on both the hype and the backlash.
For those who refuse to see Nolan’s take? There’s a place for you now. Watch the AI slop. Call it “authentic Western tradition” if that helps your sleep.
Real movie fans will fill the theaters. Three hours long. Live actors. Real cameras.
The haters can have their algorithmic fantasy. They get their cake.
They just can’t have the party.
Who will really show up tomorrow? Probably you.
