The Billion-Dollar Web That Caught The Odyssey

Don't hang me in the public square, but I think Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the most overrated movie of all time.

I am basing this on its commercial success.

I was eagerly waiting for The Odyssey to become Christopher Nolan's first non-comic-book-based movie to earn $1 billion in the global box office. His 2023 Oppenheimer came very close but got stuck at $976 million. And one of my favorite movies ever -- Inception -- made $839 million in its theatrical run.

So I had high hopes for The Odyssey. It started out very strong, collecting $264 million worldwide. Here are some impressive fun facts about its spectacular opening weekend:

• it was Christopher Nolan's biggest worldwide opening ever, surpassing two of the comic-based movies that made him over one billion -- The Dark Knight Rises ($249 million worldwide opening) and The Dark Knight ($200 million);

• it was the third-largest US domestic opening of 2026, despite being an R-rated, nearly three-hour epic based on the most canonical myths (not history, as some people believe);

• IMAX contributed an extraordinary $52 million worldwide -- about 20% of the film's entire global opening weekend, the biggest IMAX opening in the company's history. A staggering $6.2 million of those earnings was collected by only 41 global screens capable of projecting 70 mm film that Nolan shot the entire movie on (I wrote about the technology here on Vocal).

If you haven't seen The Odyssey in 70 mm film version and have access to an IMAX theater capable of showing it, rush to buy the tickets. The experience is absolutely worth the average $32 (matinee) to $60 (evening show) per person.

It's a limited run as The Odyssey will be taken off the 70 mm film screens on September 16, ending just before Resident Evil takes over IMAX theaters on September 18. Another fun fact relating to this format: The Odyssey in IMAX 70 mm film is projected to earn about $40 million from its entire run and most theaters are completely sold out weeks ahead.

Overall, The Odyssey was doing very well, despite attracting sustained criticism from conservative commentators. It made almost $228 million on the second weekend and over $160 million on the weekdays, still showing signs of an exceptional run that would reach $1 billion within several weeks:

• The domestic second-weekend drop was only 27.1% (using actual weekend figures), an extraordinarily small decline for a film that opened above $100 million;

• Internationally, it was even stronger, with only about a 3% decline in holdover markets, one of the best holds ever for a blockbuster of this size;

• Crossing $650 million worldwide after just two weekends put The Odyssey well ahead of the pace of Oppenheimer and made it one of the fastest-grossing original (non-superhero, non-sequel) films in recent years.

And then in The Odyssey's third weekend, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was released. In just its opening weekend, it earned $925 million in the global box office, surpassing The Odyssey's $917 million worldwide three-week run. Second best opening weekend ever after The Avengers: End Game. And I naively believed that moviegoers were tired of comic-based fantasy films.

I haven't seen the newest Spider-Man yet. I don't know if I ever will. My 24-year-old son watched it with his friends and said it was "very good." I suspect much of the movie's success is driven by teenagers and young adults who are fascinated by the leading couple.

I know, some people will say I'm not fair to the newest Spider-Man: Brand New Day calling it overrated because I haven't seen it. But to me, the movie's commercial success driven by fawning interest in the leading couple is what makes it overrated.

In my unpopular opinion, the only reason the 2026 Spider-Man is doing so well is because both Telemachus and Athena are in it.

To illustrate my point, here's a Titanium song flash mob from the Spider-Man fan event in Paris. Most of the people at the event, just as most musicians, are kids, adolescents, and young adults. And look at Telemachus squatting next to the little girl for a full minute like he is a true super-human sitting on an invisible stool!