Academy Award winnerMatt Damonhas been a Hollywood staple for quite some time…but not everything he leads is a winner. TheBourneandInterstellarstar will reunite with acclaimed director Christopher Nolan fornext year’s action fantasy epicThe Odyssey, but it may surprise you to learn this is not Damon’s first foray into the genre. And his failed attempt from 2016 is now finding some surprise success on streaming.
Sporting a ponytail and wielding a bow and arrow, Matt Damon leads the charge alongside Jing Tian,Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, and Andy Lau in this tale of two European mercenaries who find themselves joining forces with an army tasked with keeping the world safe from a monstrous threat.
Yes, I Went to a 2-Hour ‘Jurassic World’ Movie To Watch a 70-Second Trailer, and It Was Worth It
The first teaser for Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ played before ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ and it’s worth the price of admission by itself.
Directed by Zhang Yimou, who isbest known for the acclaimed martial-arts-infusedperiod dramasHeroandHouse of Flying Daggers, in his English-language film debut,The Great Wallwas sadly met with seriously mixed reviews both in the U.S. and China (35% on Rotten Tomatoes), unceremoniously flopping at the box office after reportedly losing as much as $75 million.The Great Wallis now climbing the charts on the recently renamedHBO Max, reaching heights of #4 in the streamer’s Top 10 and trailing just behind the documentaryMy Mom Jayne, and the box office successesA Minecraft MovieandSinners. You can check out the official synopsis forThe Great Wallbelow.
When a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within the Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront the unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.
Matt Damon Gets Another Chance at Epic Fantasy Courtesy of Christopher Nolan
Thankfully, despite the failure ofThe Great Wall,Matt Damon will get another chance to leada big-budget action fantasy epic courtesy of Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan. Damon will leadThe Dark KnightandOppenheimerdirector’s adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem as Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca. Unlike Damon,The Odysseymarks Nolan’s first foray into full-on fantasy, with the movie retelling the story of Odysseus’ ten-year journey home following the Trojan War, which sees the warrior king facing a cyclops, Sirens, a witch goddess, and more as he fights to be reunited with his wife and son.
Alongside Matt Damon,The Odysseyboasts one of the most stacked casts in history. Take a deep breath,because the movie stars Tom Holland(Spider-Man: No Way Home), Zendaya (Challengers), Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises), Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road), Benny Safdie (Oppenheimer), Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther), Robert Pattinson (The Batman), Elliot Page (Inception), Mia Goth (Pearl), Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton), Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), Logan Marshall-Green (Upgrade), Himesh Patel (Tenet), Samantha Morton (Minority Report), John Leguizamo (Encanto), Will Yun Lee (The Wolverine), and, believe it or not, more.
The Odysseyis now filming, and is due to land in theaters on July 31, 2025.MovieWeb recently caught up with star John Leguizamo, who revealed his passion for the Greek classics and teased Nolan’s “amazing” and “accessible” adaptation.
“I’m a big fan of, you know, Euripides, Aristophanes, all the great Greeks, and The Odyssey. And I read The Iliad, even though I couldn’t really understand The Iliad because you have to be an expert in Punic words, wars and the Peloponnesian Wars,” Leguizamo told MovieWeb. “But The Odyssey — he wrote the script. It’s an amazing script. He made it so accessible. The cast is ridiculous, you know? I mean, everybody’s a superstar there. It was exciting. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o. It’s a crazy cast.”
The Odyssey
