The Odyssey has become Christopher Nolan’s highest-rated film with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, landing a 97% Popcornmeter score on Friday afternoon based on 1,000-plus verified user ratings. The new number puts the film ahead of every other title in Nolan’s run, including The Dark Knight and Memento, both of which had 94% audience scores.
That reception matters now because The Odyssey played in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday, giving early viewers the first real say on the film’s response. For a director whose films have all received fresh audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter, the leap to 97% is the clearest sign yet that this one is landing immediately with moviegoers.
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, in Nolan’s screen adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Himesh Patel, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Benny Safdie, Corey Hawkins, James Remar and the voice of Bill Irwin also appear in the R-rated film.
The audience score is especially striking because critics were already strong on it. The Odyssey held a 96% Tomatometer score on Wednesday from 145 reviews and kept that 96% rating even as the review count rose to 337, so the movie is now drawing nearly the same kind of approval from critics and a slightly stronger one from audiences. That split is not a contradiction; it is the rare case where public reaction has edged even higher than the critical response.
Rotten Tomatoes has ranked every Nolan film since Following in 1998, and none has been marked rotten with audiences. The unanswered question is no longer whether The Odyssey can win over viewers. It already has. What remains is whether that approval turns into the kind of box office momentum that matches the score.
