Empire Covers Hint The Odyssey Trailer Is Close, As Nolan Talks Big IMAX Plans
If you've been waiting for a reason to circle a date on the calendar, this is it. Empire Magazine just rolled out two covers for Christopher Nolan (movies and tv series)'s The Odyssey - the kind of move that usually means a trailer isn't far behind.
The newsstand cover puts Matt Damon (movies and tv series)'s Odysseus in front of the Trojan horse, setting the tone for a long, dangerous sail home. The subscriber cover is a Paul Shipper illustration of warriors hauling that hulking horse toward Troy. There's also a new still of Odysseus at sea with his crew - wet decks, tight faces, you can almost hear the wind.
Here's the tell: timing. It would make a lot of sense for the first full look to land with Avatar: Fire and Ash on IMAX screens next month. Not confirmed, but the pieces fit.
Nolan's leaning all the way into the format. He says he "shot over two million feet of film" and describes the project like this: "Emma [Thomas] said it best when we first announced the project: it's foundational. There's a bit of everything in it. I mean, it truly contains all stories."
He also points to the classic myth movies he grew up with - those Ray Harryhausen (movies and tv series) touchstones - and what he felt was missing at scale: "I'd never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do."
And this wasn't a tank-and-green-screen job. "I've been out on it for the last four months. We got the cast who play the crew of Odysseus' ship out there on the real waves, in the real places. And yeah, it's vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift."
Nolan says the team wanted audiences to feel how hard ancient sea travel really was - the risk, the faith, the guesswork. "By embracing the physicality of the real world in the making of the film, you do inform the telling of the story in interesting ways."
All of this points to a heavy IMAX footprint next year and into summer 2026. If that happens, expect some premium-screen musical chairs, with titles like Spider-Man: Brand New Day potentially getting squeezed during key weekends.
Quick refresher on the source material: Homer's poem follows Odysseus, King of Ithaca, fighting his way back after the Trojan War. We're talking the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, the witch-goddess Circe, and - finally - home, where Penelope waits.
The cast is stacked: Matt Damon, Tom Holland (movies and tv series), Zendaya, Robert Pattinson (movies and tv series), Lupita Nyong'o (movies and tv series), Anne Hathaway (movies and tv series), Charlize Theron (movies and tv series), Benny Safdie (movies and tv series), Elliot Page (movies and tv series), Jon Bernthal (movies and tv series), and Mia Goth (movies and tv series).
Universal calls it "a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology," and says The Odyssey "opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026." That's a long sail from now, but the machine is clearly moving.
Here's what this could mean if you work in movie news or programming: keep an eye on IMAX slotting, watch for a teaser drop within weeks, and expect a campaign that sells the physicality first - salt spray and steel cables - before it sells the monsters. The bet is simple: make it feel real, and people will show up to feel it with a giant screen and a crowd.
Need the receipts?
- Empire Magazine covers are live. Check the source here: Empire Online.
- IMAX focus is front and center. Details on the format live here: IMAX.
The Odyssey hits theaters July 17, 2026. If the trailer pairs with Avatar next month, we'll know very soon just how big this thing really feels.
