Christopher Nolan Confirms “The Odyssey” Will Be Shorter Than “Oppenheimer”, Promises 'Less Than 3 Hours'

Staff AuthorThu, April 30, 2026 at 3:23 PM UTC

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Christopher Nolan on Feb. 8, 2025; Matt Damon in The OdysseyCredit: Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage; Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures -

Christopher Nolan confirmed in a recent interview that his new movie The Odyssey is shorter than Oppenheimer's three hours

Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway lead a star-studded cast in Nolan's adaptation of the ancient Greek epic poem

The Odyssey is in theaters July 17

Christopher Nolan fans won't be seated in movie theaters for The Odyssey this summer as long as they were for his last movie.

Nolan, 55, is returning to theaters with a movie on the big screen for the first time since his 2023 smash hit Oppenheimer with this summer's The Odyssey. The Academy Award-winning filmmaker told the in a recent interview that his new epic won't have as long a runtime as Oppenheimer, which ran for three hours.

“One of the things that's really important to me is to be showing the film wherever possible on IMAX film, projecting the format, because we shot the entire movie on IMAX film, and the longest we've ever been able to get onto the IMAX projector is three hours," he said. "So we know it's less than three hours. I can say the film is shorter than Oppenheimer. It's still an epic, it's an epic film as the subject matter demands, but it is shorter.”

The Odyssey is based on the ancient Greek epic poem known as Homer's Odyssey, which follows Odysseus' years-long journey home to the island of Ithaca after the Trojan War. Matt Damon plays the title character, and Tom Holland portrays his son Telemachus; Anne Hathaway portrays Odysseus' wife Penelope among a large ensemble cast.

Nolan told the AP that he feels "a massive amount of pressure" to deliver a quality movie in adapting The Odyssey, which is considered one of the oldest examples of literature in the world. "Anyone taking on The Odyssey is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility," he said. The director also said the experience reminded him of making his trilogy of Batman movies with Christian Bale.

The Odyssey posterCredit: Universal Studios IMAX

“What I learned from that experience is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation,” he added. “They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”

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Nolan recently appeared at CinemaCon in Las Vegas to promote the movie, which he described as "an absolute nightmare to film. . . in all the right ways" during his presentation.

"He was an incredible leader for us," Nolan said of Damon during that appearance. "He was just there out on the boats, up the mountains, in the caves, in beating sunshine, in sideways rain and wind, so many different places that we went to," Nolan said of Damon's performance in the film. "We went all over the world to make this film because this is The Odyssey. You'll be pleased to hear how difficult it was for us because it's meant to be difficult. That's the nature of the story."

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Matt Damon and Himesh Patel in The OdysseyCredit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

The film's cast also includes Lupita Nyong'o, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, among others.

The Odyssey sets sail July 17.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”