The Odyssey 2026 Movie: An Epic Perfect For Modern Cinema
- Melchior Antoine
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
The Odyssey, although more than 2500 years old, is the ideal blockbuster for film. Before we elaborate, if you haven’t been living under a rock, then you should know that director Christopher Nolan is working on an adaptation of the Odyssey — the great epic by Homer, dating back to around 750–650 BC, starring Matt Damon.
There appears to be both excitement and controversy surrounding the upcoming 2026 movie, set to be released next year on July 17. On February 19, 2025, the director was called out for historical inaccuracy because of costume design after Universal Pictures released first-look images of Matt Damon in costume. The costume was roundly criticized as not remotely resembling what is described in Homer’s text.
This has not deterred interest in the film though. Recently, enthusiastic moviegoers snapped up cinema tickets to the film in Imax 70MM. According to reports, within an hour after the special offer was announced, 95 percent of seats were sold, resulting in about $1.5 million in sales. Later reports claimed that these tickets were being resold on eBay and other similar sites for prices that ranged between $300 and $400!
The Odyssey: An Ancient Blockbuster
The Odyssey is the ideal choice for Christopher Nolan because of the way the original author, Homer, structures his plot in telling the adventures of his hero Odysseus. Homer's Odyssey can be seen as the harbinger of the modern novel in terms of its plot structure.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Homer’s Odyssey directly inspired the modern novel or even influenced it. However, Homer’s storytelling tropes that focus on suspense, plot retardation, flashbacks, and a satisfying climax all predicted the modern novel.
These devices may have even cemented Homer’s reputation as an epic writer in his time. After all, Homer’ epics the Iliad and the Odyssey were not invented by Homer. They are cornerstones of Greek mythology and legend. In fact, at first, they were not even written down. Instead, they were oral poems set to music and song and were recited to a live and typically illiterate audience.
Homer stands out because his version of the tale was more impressive and captivating than others and was eventually written down. So what was so innovative about Homer’s Odyssey or his retelling of it? The original poem is 24 chapters (or books) long. However, this is due to flashbacks that keep delaying the climax and the action that we are treated to in the last chapter.
Book one doesn’t even begin with Odysseus. It begins with his son who is struggling to contain the rowdiness of suitors who have taken over his household in the absence of Odysseus and who are, as Homer puts it, “eating him out of a house and home” with extravagant feasts and carousing.Odysseus has been absent from home for twenty years. In his absence, suitors have descended from all over Greece to occupy his home, hoping to win over his loyal wife Penelope in order to inherit Odysseus’ kingdom.
This is the essence of the story. Odysseus needs to return home, fight the suitors, defeat them, regain ownership of his kingdom, and reunite with his wife. Between Books 1 and 4, we see Telemachus resolve to leave the island of Ithaca and go to the Greek Mainland to find out what happened to his father from the veterans of the Trojan War, who fought alongside his father. The suitors learn of this and devise a plot to kill him.
It is only in Book 5 that we encounter Odysseus. More than that, in Books 9–12, we get extensive flashbacks of his 10-year adventure before the present moment. These adventures include how he blinded and escaped the one-eyed cyclops Polyphemus and how he lost his whole crew to Scylla and Charybdis.
Books 13–20 describes his return to Ithaca in disguise, his emotional reunion with his wife and son, and their scheming to get the better of the suitors. Books 20–24 are the climax of the story and show Odysseus and his son eliminating the suitors one by one in combat after cornering them unwittingly to their deaths.
Homer designs the entire narrative to ensure that it is gripping and satisfying. The climax is reserved and delayed till the end, while we are treated to side quests that entertain us as we wait for the main action to occur. Homer even pays attention to verisimilitude in his story.
The tales of mythical creatures such as the cyclops and Scylla and Charybdis are all expressed as a retelling of adventures by Odysseus himself. The poet Homer keeps a kind of ironic distance from this part of the story in Books 9–12 by allowing another character besides the omniscient narrator to do so. Instead, he focuses on the more realistic parts of the story about a man reuniting with his family and using his cleverness to outwit enemies who outnumber him.
In short, Homer gave us an ancient epic that is suspenseful, full of action, and believable. More than that, the original tale is about a man who uses all his wit and resources to survive by any means necessary, which any audience — past or modern — would be attracted to.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, July 17). The Odyssey 2026 Movie: An Epic Perfect For Modern Cinema. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/the-odyssey-2026-movie |
