‘The Odyssey’ is now Christopher Nolan’s most successful film ever

The Odyssey has become the most successful film of Christopher Nolan ’s career after its latest box office milestone.

The film, which is based on Homer’s epic poem, has already had a strong run financially, becoming one of the director’s best ever openings upon its release last month.

It has now broken the record for Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever, taking $1.104billion (£819million) globally after nearly one month in cinemas.

The Dark Knight Rises was Nolan’s previous best, with the final part of his Batman trilogy taking $1.085billion (£805.7million) when it was released in 2012.

The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, and charts the Greek king of Ithaca’s long journey home from the Trojan War. Other stars include Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron.

The film has received huge acclaim from critics, with NME saying in a five-star review that it’s “hard to see how cinema can get much bigger than this”.

However, one person who was less of a fan was classics professor Emily Wilson, whose notable 2017 translation of Homer’s poem was an influence on the film. In a scathing write-up for the London Review Of Books , she argued that Nolan’s adaptation lacked “psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth” and failed to capture the complexity of the original author’s ideas.

“The film’s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas – although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants,” she said.