Christopher Nolan brought the first footage from The Odyssey to CinemaCon on Wednesday, giving theater owners a look at Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Charlize Theron as Calypso, and Jon Bernthal as Menelaus.
The movie opens July 17, 2026, and Nolan told the crowd the story has fascinated audiences for 3,000 years and is ultimately about family and homecoming.
The Odyssey footage shown at CinemaCon
The footage opens with Damon’s Odysseus on Calypso’s island, looking worn down and confused as he asks how long he has been there.
He questions what he can even remember from before Troy and wonders if he had a wife, children, and possibly a son, and how old that son would be now.
The scene then cuts to Holland’s Telemachus sitting with Bernthal’s Menelaus in a dark, candlelit setting as Menelaus begins telling him about the Trojan Horse.
The Trojan Horse sequence sounds like the centerpiece of the footage.
The horse is shown emerging from the water and being hauled across the sand toward the city.
Inside, Greek soldiers hide in tight quarters, breathing through straws as waves crash around them.
Once the horse is pulled into the city and propped up inside the fortress, night falls and the soldiers quietly emerge.
Guards are taken down, arrows fly, fires are lit, and the Greek attack unfolds in a dark, tense assault that ends with the gates opening and the men charging through.
Odysseus, Telemachus, and the larger story
The footage then cuts back to Menelaus telling Telemachus that he thinks he already knows the rest.
From there, the presentation reportedly shifted into a sizzle reel showing more of the scope of the film, with quick glimpses of battles, suffering, and large-scale action.
Nolan sldo emphasized that at the heart of the movie is the story of a man trying to return home, which lines up with the focus on Odysseus, his missing memories, and his son.
The Odyssey release date
The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and includes Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Lupita Nyong’o.
Universal releases the film only in theaters on July 17, 2026.
