The Odyssey has already made a genius decision, a full year before Christopher Nolan’s movie comes out. In the golden afterglow of Oppenheimer, which made nearly $1 billion at the box office and won Best Picture, anticipation is sky-high for Nolan’s next movie, an ambitious adaptation of Homer’s immortal epic, which is one of the oldest works of Western literature.

The movie stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, and chronicles his long and perilous journey home following the Trojan War, including his encounters with mythical beings such as the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe, culminating in his reunion with his wife, Penelope.

The supporting cast reads like a constellation of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Tom Holland as Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron as Circe, Jon Bernthal, and many more.

With an estimated production budget of $250 million, The Odyssey will be Nolan’s most expensive film yet and the first movie to be sH๏τ entirely using IMAX film cameras. Now, The Odyssey has made another unprecedented decision that is adding to the anticipation.

Christopher Nolan Is Already Solidifying The Odyssey As A Can’t-Miss Theatrical Experience

Tickets Are Going On Sale A Year Ahead Of Its Release

Tickets for The Odyssey will go on sale starting this Thursday, July 17, exactly one full year before it releases in theaters on Friday, July 17, 2026. However, not all tickets are going on sale, only for IMAX 70mm, and they will only be for select showtimes. Tickets for other formats and showtimes will probably become available much closer to the movie’s actual release.

IMAX 70mm is Nolan’s preferred format, which he’s called the highest quality imaging format ever devised, and the one he shoots his films specifically for. The kicker is that it’s also an incredibly exclusive format, as there are only about 30 theaters in the world that are capable of showing films in IMAX 70mm.

Tickets going on sale a year ahead of a movie’s release is entirely unprecedented, especially since The Odyssey hasn’t even finished filming yet. The closest comparison might be Nolan’s own Dark Knight Rises, which started selling 70mm midnight tickets about six months before its release in 2012, but even that seems modest compared to The Odyssey.

The Odyssey trailer also started showing exclusively in theaters ahead of Jurᴀssic World Rebirth and Superman. This, in combination with the early ticket sales, has served to increase anticipation for The Odyssey a full year ahead of its release, and is consistent with Nolan’s longtime commitment to the theatrical experience.

This is the kind of madness that feels like myth – selling IMAX 70mm tickets for an unfinished film, a year in advance, as if time itself were just another sea to cross. And yet, how oddly moving. You’re not just reserving a seat, you’re pledging belief. The journey begins now.

The Odyssey releases in theaters on July 17, 2026.