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Nolan's The Odyssey 'A Masterpiece Homer Would Be Proud Of'

PUBLISHED DATE : 03/Apr/2025

Nolan's The Odyssey 'A Masterpiece Homer Would Be Proud Of'

A statement by Universal Studios' distribution Chief Jim Orr about the Christopher Nolan directed The Odyssey is currently echoing across the world, and the audience in good fun have reiterated that while movie hypes are important, overdoing the same might come across as undermining the viewers.

 

The Odyssey lead by Hollywood actor Matt Damon is an epic action fantasy movie, that is set to release in theaters on July 17, 2026. The movie's shooting began late February, 2025, and currently Nolan is shooting in Italy with his cast and crew. On April 2, 2025, Jim Orr addressed an audience of theater owners at CinemaCon 2025, held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. 

While speaking about the movies Universal Pictures is distributing, Orr ended up hyping The Odyssey as 'a visionary, once-in-a-generation cinematic masterpiece that Homer himself would quite likely be proud of'. As the Universal Studio executive's quote started making headlines, revealing that even some of the theater owners laughed at the hyperbole, a set of reactionary tweets started flooding in. 

 

To the unversed, the most popular historical acceptance of Greek poet, and The Odyssey author 'Homer' is that he was blind. While some scholars believe that Homer was a real person, others think that his works like The Iliad and The Odyssey—two of the greatest pieces of ancient Greek literature—could have been the result of a long oral tradition, passed, and eventually written down by multiple poets over time. This scrutiny over Homer's existence as a single person is called the 'Homeric Question.' 

 

Also, Homer is believed to have existed in the 8th century BCE.  So, a movie distributor stating that a blind Greek poet from 750 BCE, who may or may not be real, would be proud that their work is being made into a movie in 2026, had both supporters and critics. 

 

 

Jim Orr's 'Homer' statement about The Odyssey movie was also met with jokes about 'Homer' from The Simpsons cartoon. 

 

 

Eventually everyone seemed to trust in the brand 'Christopher Nolan', while keeping Jim Orr's statement in line. 

 

 

The Odyssey is a production venture of Nolan's Syncopy Inc, and also stars Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, among others. The movie is an adaptation of Homer's eponymous poem, and follows Odysseus (Matt Damon), the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, on his journey to return home from the Trojan War. 

L-R: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Christopher Nolan from The Odyssey movie filming

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