The Odyssey Review: Nolan's Epic Is Still Filling Thessaloniki Screens
The Odyssey is the case of a director scaling up an intimate, character-driven instinct rather than trading it for the easier version of spectacle. Christopher Nolan's take on Homer's epic, with Matt Damon as Odysseus opposite Anne Hathaway's Penelope and Tom Holland's Telemachus, opened in July and has since crossed $1.6 billion worldwide, the second-highest gross of 2026 and, by most tallies, the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made. Nine weeks in, The Odyssey is still playing across Thessaloniki, and Mood's programme data shows it booked into seven of the sixteen cinemas it's tracking in the city this week, the widest venue spread of any of the 41 titles currently listed.
A Cast Built for Scale, Not Just Spectacle
The ensemble is where Nolan's version earns most of its praise. Alongside Damon and Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o doubles as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Charlize Theron plays Calypso, Robert Pattinson is Antinous, and Zendaya takes Athena. Samantha Morton's Circe has drawn some of the most specific notices from critics, less for showiness than for how much she does in limited screen time. The film sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from over 500 reviews and 89 on Metacritic, a score the site classifies as universal acclaim. The Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus reads that the film "reinvigorates an ancient adventure with majestic sweep and sterling work by its colossal ensemble, imbuing myth with primal human feeling," which is a fair summary of where the praise actually lands: not on any single performance, but on how the cast holds together across a three-hour runtime that keeps cutting between Ithaca and the open sea. The film was also shot for IMAX and 70mm presentation, a format choice that matters more here than in most Nolan films given how much of the story plays out at sea or across ruined coastline rather than in dialogue-heavy interiors. Thessaloniki's own IMAX-capable screens, including the one at Village Cinemas at Mediterranean Cosmos, are part of why the film has held a slot in the city's programme this long.
Where Nolan Strays From Homer, and Not Everyone Is Convinced
The reception hasn't been uniform. Emily Wilson, the Odyssey translator Nolan himself credited as an influence on the adaptation, wrote a review for the London Review of Books arguing the film lacks the psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth of the original poem, a pointed critique given her own standing in that field. The modern dialogue choices and a more contemporary casting approach drew similar pushback from some early viewers, who found certain lines pulled them out of the period setting rather than into it. Nolan addressed the criticism directly on the press tour, arguing that naming the mechanics of a piece of storytelling doesn't automatically undercut them. None of this dented the box office or the aggregate critical scores, but it's the honest caveat sitting next to an otherwise rare consensus: a film this widely praised rarely also draws a classicist's public rebuttal, and both things are true of The Odyssey at once.
Nine Weeks In, Still Booked Wide in Thessaloniki
What keeps a summer release on Thessaloniki screens in September is usually steady, spread-out demand rather than one or two theaters holding it out of habit. Village Cinemas at Mediterranean Cosmos is running it alongside smaller rooms like Cine Oraiokastro and the Artbox Fargani Theater, a mix of multiplex and independent bookings rather than a single chain propping the film up. Mood's data shows The Odyssey trailing the week's raw screening-volume leader (the newest Resident Evil entry, currently booked for 126 shows against The Odyssey's 52) but nothing else in the current Thessaloniki catalogue matches its reach across that many distinct rooms, which is a different kind of staying power than screening count alone captures. Showtimes for the coming days run from mid-afternoon through evening slots at most of the seven venues, which is closer to how a new release gets scheduled than how a nine-week-old title usually holds on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch The Odyssey in Thessaloniki?
The film is currently booked at seven cinemas across the city, including Village Cinemas at Mediterranean Cosmos and Cineplexx One Salonica. Full, current showtimes for Thessaloniki's cinema programme are listed on Mood.
Is The Odyssey still in theaters this many weeks after release?
Yes. It opened in mid-July and, as of this week, is still running in Thessaloniki alongside newer titles, an unusually long theatrical tail for a summer blockbuster.
What genre is The Odyssey?
It's billed as adventure, action and fantasy. That puts it in a minority lane in Thessaloniki's current programme, where comedy and thriller tags outnumber adventure and fantasy ones across the 41 films Mood is tracking in the city this week.
Who stars in The Odyssey?
Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Samantha Morton as Circe and Zendaya as Athena.
Is The Odyssey a faithful adaptation of Homer?
Nolan takes real liberties with structure, dialogue and casting, which is exactly what drew both the loudest praise and the sharpest pushback, including a public critique from Homer translator Emily Wilson. It's closer to a modern retelling than a literal staging of the poem.
For the rest of what's actually playing in the city this week, from The Odyssey's long run to newer arrivals, browse Thessaloniki's cinemas on Mood.
