We're still fresh off 2026, and we can't wait to see what the next film releases have in store. After the latest Golden Globe awards—which saw titles like "The Battle of the Five" and "Hamnet: In the Name of the Son" stand out—anticipation is already running high for the upcoming Oscars; but equally exciting is the upcoming debut of blockbusters geared not only toward arthouse fans but also mainstream audiences, Christopher Nolan 's " The Odyssey " undoubtedly standing out.

Expected in cinemas on July 16th , the blockbuster based on the Homeric poem of the same name, which marks the British director's grand return after the triumph of "Oppenheimer", is already unanimously considered one of the most anticipated titles of the year, as also indicated by the magazine Comicbookmovie.com, which has published the list of the most searched films on Google in 2025 by the American public.

According to the information reported, "The Odyssey" is among the top ten most-clicked films on the search engine, behind the comic book films "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." This is a box office bet that—even in a lineup so packed with contenders—can already be considered a winning one, given the prestige Nolan has built up over the years, the impressive cast assembled for the occasion, and the expectations that a peplum filmed with the latest technology inevitably arouses among viewers.

The cast—alongside stars like Matt Damon , Anne Hathaway , Zendaya , and Tom Holland —also includes Mia Goth , a breakout actress who appeared in Guillermo del Toro's recent "Frankenstein" and is one of the stars of the upcoming "Star Wars: Starfighter," directed by Shawn Levy. In a recent interview, she said of working on "The Odyssey": "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Really. It was profound. I've been a huge fan of (Christopher Nolan's) work for years.

So having that opportunity and being able to watch him direct was incredible. I learned so much from that experience. The trust he has in his actors was enlightening."

To get an even clearer idea of the commitment invested in the project, we can't ignore Matt Damon 's physical transformation to play Ulysses . Interviewed on an episode of the New Heights podcast, the star admitted to losing about thirty pounds, achieving a physique he hadn't remembered having since high school.

He specifically stated: “I had a beard for about a year. I was in perfect shape. I lost a lot of weight. Christopher Nolan wanted me to be slim but strong. Under medical supervision, I stopped eating gluten. Before that, I weighed between 180 and 200 pounds, and I shot the entire film at 165 pounds . I hadn’t been that light since high school. So I had to do a lot of training and follow a very strict diet.”

The preparation closely resembles the one he went through for 2009's "The Informant," when he gained 35 pounds "by eating like crazy and drinking dark beer." He said of that experience at the time: "Between meals on set, I'd eat a McDonald's burger and then some Doritos on top. It was absolute heaven."

Regarding the extraordinary results achieved with the filming—and in particular the feat of shooting the film entirely in IMAX —Damon said of Nolan: "IMAX cameras are really loud. It feels like you're having a blender in your face when the camera is close. So there were never these dialogue scenes in IMAX. We couldn't have had this conversation with a regular IMAX camera because we wouldn't have been able to hear each other.

They built a gigantic system around the Imax for the dialogue scenes and a system of mirrors so that the eye line was close to the camera and you could talk to the other actor. The amount of work that went into figuring out how to do it was immense, but Nolan wanted to do 100% Imax and he succeeded.

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