Oppenheimer was one of the biggest movies of 2023 and collected numerous Oscars and other awards earlier this year, but now Christopher Nolan’s next movie is the new hot topic when it comes to the filmmaker. Although the last few months have brought the news of actors like Matt Damon, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson coming aboard, no actual plot details had been revealed; even Tom Holland was clueless about the premise. But that changes today, as we finally know what Nolan’s Oppenheimer follow-up will be, and I’m excited that this will be a cinematic tale worthy of the epic cast that’s been assembled.
Universal Pictures announced today that Nolan is adapting Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey for the big screen, providing the following statement about what’s coming in roughly a year and a half:
Christopher Nolan’s next film ‘The Odyssey’ is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.
I know the term ‘epic’ is thrown around a lot when it comes to grand-scale movies, but this is definitely something that warrants the term. The Odyssey follows Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, who, after fighting in the Trojan War for 10 years, embarks on a fraught and perilous journey home that also lasts a decade. Alongside The Iliad, which is also attributed to Homer, The Odyssey one of the oldest works of literature in history and has been adapted various times in film and TV. Still, I think that it’s safe to say that what Christopher Nolan is cooking up will end up being one of the most famous adaptations of the classic tale to date, if not resting comfortably at the top of the list.
So naturally with a movie such as this, you need an awesome and worthy cast, and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is so far succeeding with that metric. In addition to the aforementioned actors, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron will also appear, and you can sure a lot more names will be revealed in the coming year. Filming is expected in early 2025, and it will be Nolan’s second movie with Universal Pictures, as he took Oppenheimer to that studio following his dispute with Warner Bros. Pictures.
Once again, The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17, 2026, and while it’s the only movie set for that date so far, that July will also see the release of Shrek 5, the live-action Moana remake and Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man movie. While we wait for more updates about The Odyssey, maybe you’ll join me in streaming O Brother, Where Art Thou? with a Hulu subscription, as the Coen Brothers’ 2000 movie was loosely based on the epic poem.
