Universal has decided to skip influencer screenings for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, going straight to professional critics after the film’s London premiere on July 6, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed on Wednesday.
The move breaks from the now-standard industry practice of holding “word-of-mouth screenings” for influencers and fan-site bloggers before critics get access, a strategy designed to flood social media with positive early reactions before full reviews land.
THR framed the decision as a confident flex by Universal. But the timing tells a bigger story: the influencer screening model is showing cracks, and studios may be starting to notice.
The Supergirl Problem
Universal’s decision comes days after influencer and early fan screenings for Supergirl produced results that studios typically try to avoid.
Influencer screenings are supposed to generate a wave of enthusiastic early buzz that sets the narrative before critics weigh in.
With Supergirl, that wave never materialized the way Warner Bros. needed it to. Instead of the usual flood of all-caps praise, many of the influencers and early-access voices were more measured, and some were outright negative.
Film Threat’s Chris Gore called the film “terrible” after his screening. Grace Randolph posted a cryptic “how unfortunate” reaction. Multiple early voices compared the film unfavorably to Guardians of the Galaxy and Mad Max, praised Milly Alcock’s performance, but flagged a weak script and an uninteresting villain.
The film currently sits at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. That is not the number a studio gets when its influencer strategy is working.
The pattern was notable because it showed that even the voices studios rely on for early enthusiasm could not consistently sell a film that did not deliver.
Audiences watching these reactions in real time could see the gap between the usual influencer excitement and what Supergirl actually generated, and that gap erodes the credibility of the entire system.
Disclosure Day Had the Opposite Problem
If Supergirl showed what happens when influencers cannot fake enthusiasm, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day showed the other failure mode.
Universal held influencer screenings for Disclosure Day earlier this summer. The early reactions were rapturous, with multiple influencers calling it Spielberg’s best film in 20 years.
Then the actual review embargo lifted, and professional critics were far more reserved.
The disconnect was public and immediate. Audiences who had been primed to expect a masterpiece walked into something that critics treated as solid but not spectacular.
The influencer hype had set expectations the film could not meet, which arguably hurt it more than no early buzz would have.
Why Universal Is Skipping the Step Entirely
Universal has now seen both sides of the influencer screening problem play out in the same summer. Influencers who cannot sell a weak film (Supergirl, from Warner Bros.) and influencers whose overselling creates a credibility gap (Disclosure Day, from their own studio).
With The Odyssey, they are removing the variable altogether.
After the London premiere on July 6, critic screenings begin on July 7. No influencer buffer. No controlled first wave of social media takes. The first public reactions to The Odyssey outside of the premiere audience will come from professional film critics.
That is a statement of confidence in the product. If Universal believed The Odyssey needed the usual managed rollout to shape its narrative, they would not be handing first access to critics who have no incentive to be enthusiastic.
It also fits Nolan’s established pattern of skipping film festivals, relying on minimalistic marketing, and keeping details under wraps until audiences are in theaters.
Nolan has never needed influencers to sell his films, and Universal appears to agree that The Odyssey does not need them either.
The Casting Backlash Is Another Factor
There is another reason Universal may want to skip the influencer screening step entirely: The Odyssey is already one of the most polarizing blockbusters of the year before a single frame has screened publicly.
The casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy has drawn sustained criticism, including from Elon Musk and from the Greek community, which published an open letter calling out the lack of Greek representation in the confirmed principal cast.
Zendaya’s casting as the goddess Athena and Elliot Page’s rumored role — possibly Achilles — have also fueled online debate. Audience interest has dipped amid the controversy.
Influencer screenings would risk turning the first wave of public reactions into a referendum on the casting rather than a conversation about the film itself.
Professional critics are more likely to evaluate The Odyssey on its filmmaking merits. By going straight to critics, Universal may be trying to ensure the opening narrative is about whether Nolan delivered a great movie, not a replay of the months-long casting debate.
That calculation only works if the film is strong enough to shift the conversation on its own. Universal appears to believe it is.
About The Odyssey
The Odyssey is written and directed by Christopher Nolan and is based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem. The film was shot using brand new IMAX film technology across locations in Morocco, Italy, Greece, Iceland, and the United Kingdom.
The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as Athena, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, and Samantha Morton as Circe, among over 30 confirmed actors.
The Odyssey opens in theaters and IMAX everywhere on July 17, 2026, from Universal Pictures.
