Christopher Nolan is one of the most popular filmmakers of our time. His latest drama, an adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey," with a star-studded cast led by Matt Damon as Odysseus, opens in theaters on July 17th. Millions of moviegoers are anxiously awaiting this epic film on the big screen. Numerous showings around the world in premium formats, such as 70mm IMAX, are already sold out.
For more than 25 years, Nolan movies have been events. No matter what the story is - cinephiles will show-up for a Christopher Nolan film. His name is a brand - and the top draw to go see that particular movie. Nolan's first film was 1998 indie "Following," but his breakout was 2000's "Memento," starring Guy Pearce, which earned Nolan and his brother Jonathan an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. 2002's "Insomnia," with Al Pacino and Robin Williams, kicked-off a nearly two-decade-long relationship with Warner Bros.
In 2005, Nolan directed "Batman Begins," a superhero movie game-changer, with Christian Bale in the title role. It was a much more dramatic take on The Caped Crusader than the '60s TV series with Adam West and the film versions with Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the '80s and '90s. "Batman Begins" was the first installment of an iconic trilogy, followed-up with 2008 blockbuster "The Dark Knight" (featuring the late Heath Ledger as The Joker) and 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises."
In between his Batman pictures, Nolan directed 2006 magician thriller "The Prestige" and the dreams within dreams within dreams saga "Inception" (in 2010). Nolan loves playing with time, as he also showcased in 2014's sci-fi "Interstellar" and 2017's WWII drama "Dunkirk" (my personal favorite of all his films). And he did that yet again for the backwards-forwards-rewind-move ahead thriller "Tenet". It was set to open on July 17th, 2020, but the Covid pandemic altered those plans. Nolan was eager to still have the film play in North American theaters that summer, even when most theater chains were closed and the majority of people were concerned about spending time in cinemas. Some were legitimately angry with Nolan for being so fixated on releasing "Tenet" in 2020, and potentially risking people's lives by asking them to go see it.
I attended a showing of "Tenet" on the first day of its U.S. release, August 31st, but was one of only six people in the theater. The usually large crowds who flock to Nolan films... much smaller, and much more spread-out this time. In its first four months in cinemas, "Tenet" only earned $58 million in North America (it did much better overseas, making more than $300 million), and ended-up winning the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. But was it all worth it? Nolan was still chasing that Best Director Academy Award - I think he really wanted it for "Dunkirk" - and after all the "Tenet" troubles, he now needed a movie that would get him back in everyone's good graces.
Nolan switched studios for his next picture, 2023's "Oppenheimer," going to Universal. It was one half of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon with Warner Brothers' "Barbie" that summer. "Oppenheimer" broke box office records for R-rated movies and solidified Nolan's status as one of the biggest directors in the business. And it won him that Best Director Academy Award. He's now the president of the Directors Guild of America.
And here comes "The Odyssey," which aims to match or exceed the nearly $1 Billion global total of "Oppenheimer." Will it also bring Christopher Nolan back to the Oscars? It's an odyssey that's sure to dominate the entertainment headlines over the next eight months.
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