The film, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and others, premieres on July 17.

There’s a Christopher Nolan superfan who planned her second pregnancy around The Odyssey. No, really

The film, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and others, premieres on July 17.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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July 14, 2026 5:14 p.m. ET

Mia Goth and Anne Hathaway in ‘The Odyssey’. Credit:

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

- Christopher Nolan’s *The Odyssey *has fans planning major life events around the movie’s premiere.

- Tickets went on sale last year for the Greek epic, with some fans traveling cross-country or going to early morning screenings just to see the movie in IMAX 70mm.

- *The Odyssey *premieres on July 17 — for those who have tickets, that is.

For Christopher Nolan fans, it’s been an odyssey to see, well, *The Odyssey*.

Fans are flying across the country, buying tickets for 2 a.m. screenings months in advance, and even planning their family around the premiere of the Oscar winner’s latest movie. Yes, you read that right. Someone planned their pregnancy around *The Odyssey *premiere.

Amber Connaghan told *Variety** *that after a friend of hers got pregnant last year, she said: “‘OK, it’s time for you to have your second child.” Connaghan demurred, all because of *The Odyssey*. “I was like, ‘No, I have to wait a few months. Otherwise, it’s going to be too close to *The Odyssey*.’”

She bought a ticket for the movie last year at a theater three hours away from her in California so she could see the film in the IMAX 70mm format.

“There’s a little bit of FOMO,” she added. “I want to see what someone like Nolan can do with something as epic and spectacular as *The Odyssey*. As soon as the tickets went on sale a year ago, I knew this was going to be something pretty special. I knew it was something I didn’t want to miss.”

Matt Damon and Himesh Patel in ‘The Odyssey’.

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

The movie, adapted from Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem *The Odyssey*, was filmed entirely with IMAX cameras, sending fans to IMAX theaters, along with the selected ones showing the film in 70mm.

Jim McHugh, for example, is flying from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to experience Nolan’s movie-making magic. “Seeing something in IMAX 70mm has been a bucket list item for me since I saw Ryan Coogler do a video about the screenings for *Sinners*,” he told the publication, mentioning that his high school job working the local cinema’s projector endeared him to the medium.

Christopher Nolan disagrees with Matt Damon’s ‘defeatist’ take on ‘The Odyssey’

Matt Damon recalls Christopher Nolan ‘looking like a drowned rat’ on ‘The Odyssey’ set

Meanwhile, Christopher Vanderpool told *Business Insider** *that he will be flying from New England to the Bay Area to catch the movie with friends for its opening weekend.

“As people have rediscovered what the possibilities of cinema are, especially event cinema, I think it’s compelling for folks to find a way to get out with their friends — or themselves — and engage in this,” Vanderpool declared. “It’s a really, really rare format, even now.”

Tickets have been available for *The Odyssey *since last year. Even after the movie’s distributor Universal released another batch of tickets in June, fans faced crashing websites and hours-long waits online to lock in a screening.

Fans posted on social media about the strange times and seating arrangements for showings they need to book in order to experience the film, if they even are able to secure a seat.

*Business Insider** *reported that the average price for a ticket through July 10 on eBay is $165. Some opening night spots in Los Angeles are selling for closer to $600.

Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland in ‘The Odyssey’.

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

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The hype surrounding the movie may be worth the hassle.

Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes’ Erik Davis declared *The Odyssey *is “the must-see cinematic event of the summer — and quite possibly the year.”

“The production design is incredible, the action is breathtaking, and the scale is unlike anything he’s done before,” he wrote on X.

*The Odyssey* is “staggering” until the final act, “that’s as good as anything Nolan’s done,” wrote *DigitalSpy* movie editor Ian Sandwell.

Nolan’s films, such as *Inception*, the *Batman *trilogy, *Interstellar*, and most recently *Oppenheimer*, have endeared him to cinephiles around the world. His new epic* *is expected to do the same.

Tom Holland with fans at ‘The Odyssey’ Paris premiere in July 2026.

Victor Boyko/Getty

*The Odyssey *stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, and others. It premieres in theaters on July 17.

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