Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” to Skip Influencer Screenings in Bold Bet on Critics & IMAX Spectacle

Universal has decided to sail around the usually friendly waters of word-of-mouth screenings and directly into the teeth of critics in a show of strength.

Universal Pictures is signaling serious confidence in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey by skipping traditional word-of-mouth screenings and opting instead for a critics-first rollout following its global premiere in London on July 6.

Word-of-mouth screenings are where social media influencers and fan-site bloggers are invited to see the film and offer their takes on social media immediately afterward. It’s a bold move to sail past these screenings, considering the participants can usually be counted on to gush about a film on their social feeds ahead of the premiere, and it seems like a sign of well-placed confidence in Nolan’s epic.

Whether a film is given a word-of-mouth screening is decided on a case-by-case basis, though it often makes sense to hold them for potential blockbuster films looking to build a groundswell of enthusiasm before opening weekend.

Given the unprecedented pre-sales The Odyssey has already generated, and Nolan’s stature as a filmmaker whose name alone draws big crowds, it seems like a savvy move for a studio bullish on the prospects of a marquee filmmaker delivering a must-see film. Add the fact that The Odyssey is the first film ever captured entirely with IMAX cameras, at a time when audiences are willing to drive long distances to experience big films in premium formats, and this decision seems even more sound.

There’s a tremendous amount of excitement surrounding The Odyssey, a film Nolan seems to have been building toward throughout his career. The director and his cast and crew filmed on location across Greece, Morocco, Italy—including on “goat island,” a part of Sicily—Iceland, and Scotland. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the tortured hero of the Trojan War, waylaid for a decade while attempting to get back to his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and son Telemachus (Tom Holland), beset by vengeful gods, monsters, and all manner of mishaps on a journey that Nolan has called the story.

The cast boasts Lupita Nyong’o in dual roles, as Helen of Troy, the wife of Jon Bernthal’s Menelaus and the woman whose face launched a thousand ships, and her sister, Clytemnestra, wife of Benny Safdie’s Agamemnon. Robert Pattinson stars as Antinous, the most vile of the suitors, trying to steal Odysseus’s home, his wife, and, for good measure, murder his son. Zendaya plays the goddess Athena, and Charlize Theron plays the nymph Calypso. 

The Odyssey sets sail in theaters on July 17.

Featured image: Matt Damon (center) is Odysseus in THE ODYSSEY, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.