The Odyssey Runtime Update

We still don’t know much about The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s next big movie, but we at least know it won’t be as long as his last movie, Oppenheimer.

Nolan’s blockbuster biopic weighed in at three hours, which was enough to test the resolve of even the most experienced of cinemagoers. The Odyssey, however, will come in under that, although we don’t know the exact runtime.

Confirmation comes from producer Emma Thomas, speaking at CinemaCon 2026 and reported on by Deadline. Thomas guaranteed The Odyssey will come in under three hours, but was still unsure of the final runtime as post-production is ongoing.

The Odyssey’s runtime has been a talking point because of the sheer amount of story beats in the source material. Most believe Nolan will have to leave out significant chunks of Homer’s saga, although his movies often shoot along at a fast pace. Some fans are already joking that The Odyssey will be exactly two hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

The Odyssey is described as “a mythic action epic,” and was shot across the world using brand new Imax film technology. It features Matt Damon’s Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, who goes on quite the journey to return home after years of war.

The trailers released so far show off Tom Holland as Telemachus, Odysseus’s son who is determined to find his father, a concerned Anne Hathaway as Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, and Menelaus, the Greek king of Sparta and Agamemnon’s brother, played by Punisher actor Jon Bernthal. Scenes include Odysseus infiltrating the city of Troy using the legendary Trojan Horse, the Cyclops, who enters a cave filled with soldiers, and the undead rising from the ground itself.

Damon has discussed how tough it was filming The Odyssey, which he said had a “profound” effect on him. “If I look objectively at what was required to do that job, I think it came at just the right time in my life,” he revealed. “I think I would’ve been miserable 20 years ago trying to do that job. Because you were uncomfortable every day, but I really enjoyed… like, deeply enjoyed every minute of it.”

Damon has spoken about having to slim down to his high school weight for the role. “I had a beard like yours for like a year,” he told Jason and Travis Kelce on a recent episode of their podcast, New Heights. “I was in really good shape. I lost a lot of weight. [Nolan] wanted me lean but strong.”

The Odyssey is Nolan’s 13th film, after previously helming Following, Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer. Such is the anticipation for the movie, that a limited number of The Odyssey tickets went on sale last summer — a year in advance of the film opening.

While Nolan has long been celebrated as one of the great directors of modern cinema, The Odyssey is expected to perform particularly strongly following the breakout success of Oppenheimer, the Cillian Murphy-led biopic that fuelled one half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Oppenheimer earned a staggering $975 million during its theatrical run, and walked away with Best Picture at the Oscars.

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17, 2026.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.