Christopher Nolan is riding a tidal wave of box office success this week. His latest film, “The Odyssey,” grossed $124.5 million domestically in its opening weekend, his biggest debut since 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” ($160 million). The Greek epic also arrives as the third best bow of the year so far, behind “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” That’s pretty cool company!
During his recent “The Odyssey” promo tour, Nolan has spoken about whether he’d ever make a horror film. “I’d love to do a horror movie,” the filmmaker said. “But it’s all about the idea. It’s all about: is there a story that really compels you?”
With “very significant elements of horror baked” into his new film, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Christopher Nolan to take the plunge into a straight horror story. And Curry Barker’s box office blockbuster “Obsession” might have just inspired him to tackle that genre next.
Nolan Praises ‘Obsession’
“Obsession” is now streaming on Peacock after grossing $442 million globally at the box office. And Curry Barker’s unhinged take on the classic monkey’s paw tale has caught Christopher Nolan’s attention. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan expressed how doing “The Odyssey” whets his appetite to do more films with horror edges—or possibly go full-tilt with a horror story.
“I’ve always believed that horror as a genre has to be approached very carefully from a conceptual point of view. In other words, you have to have an amazing idea,” he continued. “When you go see a film like ‘Obsession,’ that’s an amazing idea. That movie works like a motherf***er. It’s not about the technical side. It’s not about what technical itches I would have to scratch. It’s about story.”
Barker gears up work on a third feature film, to be released with Universal and Blumhouse’s Atomic Monster. It is “something I’ve been excited to make for a while,” he told Deadline about the project, which will be produced by Roy Lee and Steven Schneider’s Spooky Pictures and Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath’s Divide/Conquer.
Nolan Confirms It’ll Take Three Years for Next Movie
Looking at Christopher Nolan’s track record, it typically takes three years to make a film in his world—”Interstellar” arrived in 2014, “Dunkirk” in 2017, “Tenet” in 2020 and “Oppenheimer” in 2023. And fans should expect the same about the follow-up to “The Odyssey.”
“I definitely hit the limits of my own stamina and everybody’s stamina, I think,” Nolan said on The Today Show. “I mean, it’s The Odyssey, of course it should be difficult. We’re not doing the job right making a film of The Odyssey if it doesn’t seem difficult.”
Considering Nolan made history by shooting “The Odyssey” entirely on IMAX 70mm film, it certainly hit everyone’s creative and physical limits. He added, “I went to IMAX, and I said, ‘Look, if ever we are going to fulfill this dream of shooting the entire movie that way, this is the one. This is The Odyssey.'”
