The trolls were baying for its blood; the boycott calls were loud; and the predictions very Cassandra-ish. Yet, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey defied all expectations to be a massive blockbuster.
The trolls were baying for its blood; the boycott calls were loud; and the predictions very Cassandra-ish. Yet, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey defied all expectations to be a massive blockbuster.
Between July 24 and 26, the second weekend of its release in theatres, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey earned over $200 million at the box office. This included a stellar $87 million in North America alone. To give some context, the amount is more than what Nolan’s previous film, Oppenheimer, managed in its opening weekend. Oppenheimer went on to gross close to a billion dollars at the box office. One can only imagine where The Odyssey will stop. This is a monumental feat for a film that was predicted to fail. No, not by trade experts. They don’t matter after all. It was predicted to fail by the anti-woke brigade - the ‘experts’ on Facebook and Twitter who’d welcome every positive news about the film with laugh reactions and call it ‘woke garbage’ so many times that you’d believe it.
The anti-woke were angry about the film’s casting. Most still are, but aren’t as vocal about it. $600 million worth of box office receipts has a way of shutting up most vocal critics. But the ‘critique’ continues. They are angry about the stunning Lupita Nyong’o being cast as Helen of Troy because she is not the right skin colour, according to them. They are mad that Elliot Page is in the film. In fact, despite the fact that Elliot plays Sinon, most are still mad that Nolan cast him as Achilles (who doesn’t even appear in the film). These critics aren’t the smartest tools in the shed. But they are extremely vocal and extremely loud. So historically, their loudness has been mistaken for accuracy. That has helped establish this notion that ‘woke is broke’. The idea that any Hollywood studio attempting inclusion in casting is doomed to failure because the general public won’t accept it.
Lupita Nyong’o plays Helen of Troy in The Odyssey.
But woke ain’t broke, after all
The failure of films like the live-action adaptations of Snow White and The Little Mermaid seemed to bolster this claim. The reality, however, was that they were middling films, made as cash grabs to bank on nostalgia and existing IPs. These films came from the minds of marketing folks and not creators. The Odyssey is the brainchild of Nolan, one of the most acclaimed auteurs of our time. It is a well-crafted, well-thought-out, and well-intentioned adaptation of a story that has endured for millennia. The Odyssey isn’t the exception. It is just a reminder that no vocal minority, no matter how loud, can derail a film that has something for the viewers. The Odyssey brought scale, marrying it with substance. And viewers flocked to the theatres. In most places in the US, IMAX 70mm screens are booked through September. Such is the craze for this film.
The shrinking echo chamber
In the weeks leading up to the release of The Odyssey, posts about it from leading media houses on Facebook were met with derisive laughing emojis. When it all started, the laughing emojis outnumbered the likes and hearts showing appreciation. Clearly, a large population wanted to mock the film. As the reviews came out, the laughter reduced. When the box office numbers exploded, it reduced further still. The laughing emojis still exist. The shifting of goalposts is on. Now they say that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will destroy it when it releases next weekend. It is ironic and hilarious to watch the anti-inclusion, right-wingers cheer for Spider-Man of all heroes.
The Odyssey isn’t the first film accused of being ‘woke’ to have succeeded. James Gunn’s Superman did well enough to break even at the box office last year and even had a sequel greenlit. But the film’s $619 million gross was considered just above average and below Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, which earned $670 million over a decade ago. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is predicted to cross $1.2 billion. Before Spider-Man inevitably overtakes it, the Nolan film will be the highest-grossing film of the year. It is a crystal clear rebuttal to the ‘woke is broke’ argument, and one that has - maybe only temporarily - silenced the very vocal critics.
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