Odissey (2026) Budget Revealed: Nolan's Most Expensive Film Ever
For now, the movie exists in that liminal Nolan marketing zone: too early to know if it's great, too expensive to ignore, and just mysterious enough to keep people guessing.
Christopher Nolan is making The Odyssey, and yes, it's exactly what you think it is — a big, brooding, ultra-serious adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic, now with a $250 million price tag and a cast full of Oscar bait. The man who made nuclear fission feel like a thriller is now taking a stab at gods, monsters, and men lost at sea. Naturally, it's his most expensive film to date.
Universal quietly slipped the first teaser in front of Jurassic World: Rebirth screenings — because apparently watching dinosaurs trample humanity pairs well with mythic maritime trauma. Nolan's usual no-streaming policy applied, but of course, someone recorded it on their phone and leaked it online within hours. So much for the "cinema-only experience."
Here's what we actually know:
- Budget: $250 million — Nolan's biggest yet
- Release date: July 17, 2026
- Filming began: February 2025, with locations in Greece, Morocco, and Italy
- Format: Shot entirely in IMAX
Nolan wrote the script and is directing and producing alongside Emma Thomas, continuing their post-Oppenheimer partnership. And yes, this is just his second film with Universal — a studio clearly still basking in that billion-dollar glow from their last gamble.
The trailer itself is pure Nolan mood: a gloomy ocean, cryptic voiceover, and actors dramatically asking about missing fathers and unknowable fates. Tom Holland broods. Bernthal shouts. Matt Damon floats on driftwood. You get the idea.
Is it a risk? Sure. The film's still shooting, the effects likely aren't done, and Universal just shelled out a quarter-billion dollars for an adaptation of a text most high schoolers pretend to read. But Nolan has a reputation for turning dense material into box office gold — and with The Odyssey, he might just pull it off again.
That said, a nine-minute Imax sequence of Odysseus yelling at a god while trapped in a cave isn't going to sell itself. Universal's banking on the star power and epic visuals to pull audiences in. Whether anyone under 30 cares about Homer is another matter.