The Odyssey has been R-rated – meaning anyone under 17 must be accompanied by an adult – for ‘violence and some language’. Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy View image in fullscreen The Odyssey has been R-rated – meaning anyone under 17 must be accompanied by an adult – for ‘violence and some language’. Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy Film The Odyssey becomes highest grossing R-rated film of all time Christopher Nolan’s epic has achieved $1.35bn at the global box office, overtaking 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine
Prefer the Guardian on Google The Odyssey has overtaken Deadpool & Wolverine to become the highest grossing R-rated film of all time.
According to figures compiled by the Numbers , Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem has achieved $1.35bn (£990m) at the worldwide box office, compared with the Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman superhero movie , which stands at $1.34bn (£980m) since its release in 2024.
A R-rating as designated by the Motion Picture Association requires anyone under 17 to be accompanied by an adult, and is normally seen as a brake on box office expectations. In its citation, the MPA said The Odyssey was given an R-rating “for violence and some language”.
In the UK, The Odyssey has been rated 15 for “strong violence”, while in Australia it has an M-rating for “mature themes, violence and coarse language”.
Other R-rated features to do well include Nolan’s previous film Oppenheimer, which benefited from the “Barbenheimer” craze to amass $983m worldwide, the Joaquin Phoenix-starring Joker ($1.1bn), and the two standalone Deadpool movies ($782m and $786m respectively).
View image in fullscreen Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine, which stands at $1.34bn at the worldwide box office. Photograph: Jay Maidment At the North American box office alone, Deadpool & Wolverine remains ahead, having taken $637m against The Odyssey’s $516m. Interest in Nolan’s film, however, is high in other areas of the world: the UK and Ireland’s total of $92.7m is the second highest, followed by France on $69.3m and Italy on $55.6m. China has also contributed a significant amount to The Odyssey’s coffers, with a reported $36.3m.
Starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope, the film is already the most successful of Nolan’s career , having surpassed his previous highest grossing film, 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, which has earned $1.082bn (£805.7m) globally.
However, The Odyssey’s figures could well rise significantly as it is currently in the middle of a box office battle with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has already taken more than $2bn worldwide , becoming the second fastest film to do so (after Avengers: Endgame in 2019).