Three-hour runtimes haven't quite become the norm in Hollywood, but they are more commonplace thanks to the success of blockbusters like Avengers: Endgame and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's movies have always been on the longer side, but he broke the three-hour mark for the first time (to the minute) in 2023 with Oppenheimer. That was widely hailed as a masterpiece, and the bum-numbing runtime certainly didn't hurt a film that eventually won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
The Odyssey is going to be a sweeping epic based on the ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. There's enough material there to make multiple movies, but it doesn't sound like Nolan intends to push the limits when it comes to his adaptation's runtime.
Following Universal Pictures' CinemaCon panel, Deadline has revealed, "Producer Emma Thomas also guaranteed this epic film will come in under three hours, but wasn’t quite sure of the actual running time yet since they are still in post production."
While Nolan's unprecedented run of success allows him a great deal of creative freedom, it's hard not to wonder how much the studio was involved with this decision. After all, the longer a movie is, the fewer screens it can play on in a theater on any given day.
Still, Nolan also wrote The Odyssey, so chances are this was his decision as he figured out the best way to tell this story. It's probably going to be another couple of months until we get a confirmed runtime, but it being close to three hours is surely a given.
The ancient Greek text is one of the foundational texts of Western literature. It tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his perilous journey home after the Trojan War.
The tale includes iconic stories like Odysseus' encounters with the Cyclops, Polyphemus, the Sirens and the witch-goddess Circe, culminating in a reunion with his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus.
The cast of The Odyssey also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Anne Hathaway, C harlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Lupita Nyong'o, Will Yun Lee, Benny Safdie, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Corey Hawkins, Josh Stewart, Jimmy Gonzales, Maurice Compte, and Logan Marshall-Green.
Shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology, the film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.