Nolan's The Odyssey Returns to Cinemas on December 11

Universal Pictures is bringing Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey back to cinemas, starting December 11, with IMAX and IMAX 70mm screens among the formats, Variety reported on November 5, 2026.

The film is an adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek poem about Odysseus, the king who spends years trying to get home. Matt Damon plays Odysseus. Nolan directed, and the film was the first movie shot entirely in IMAX, a large-format system with very tall screens and a big sound setup.

It first opened on July 17, 2026, after early showings began at 2 p.m. Eastern on July 16, according to NBC. Universal had announced the July 17 date well in advance, back in 2024, when CBC first reported the plans.

The numbers have kept climbing since. Variety reports that the film has earned $626 million in domestic box office, meaning the United States and Canada, and $1.8 billion worldwide. Those totals made it Nolan's highest-grossing film and Universal's highest-grossing film ever, according to the same report.

Before the December run, the film had a limited IMAX and IMAX 70mm engagement in early October. Variety says that run produced the biggest domestic opening ever recorded in IMAX 70mm. The same report puts the film at $550 million worldwide in IMAX, making it the highest-grossing IMAX film of all time.

For 2026 as a whole, Variety ranks The Odyssey second among the year's top earners, behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The December date is a second theatrical run, meaning a fresh stretch of showings in cinemas after the film has already left most screens. Variety reports that the re-release will play on more than 1,000 screens across the United States and Canada, in all formats, including IMAX and IMAX 70mm.

Re-releases of this kind are a common way for studios to put a big title back in front of audiences in the weeks before the year-end holidays, when cinema attendance usually rises. Whether the December run adds to the film's total is a question the box office will answer over the coming weeks, and the studio has not put a target on it.

For cinema-goers, the practical news is simple. If you missed the big screens in July or October, December gives you another chance to see the film in IMAX, on the largest screen format the film was made for.