The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's summer blockbuster, releases in China on Friday across most of the country's roughly 800 Imax screens, testing whether Hollywood blockbusters can still draw audiences in a market increasingly dominated by domestic films.
The film received a high-profile Beijing premiere last week at the China National Film Museum, where Nolan greeted fans alongside stars Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. Weekend sneak previews sold out, and The Odyssey has since topped the "most anticipated" ranking on Maoyan, China's largest ticketing platform.
Hollywood's Struggles in China
The launch comes at a time when western productions have struggled at the box office. Hollywood once saw China as a huge potential market, but amid rising tensions with the US, Beijing has curbed the number of western films approved for release. Local titles have accounted for about 80% of annual box office revenue in recent years, as Chinese moviegoers have increasingly favoured homegrown films amid government efforts to promote domestic cinema.
As China seeks to boost consumer spending, Hollywood films have returned to Chinese cinemas, despite the spiralling US-China trade war, although not at the level they were being approved pre-Covid. Fewer than 10 Hollywood films have cracked China's box office top 10 over the past five years.
Nolan's Unique Appeal
Some experts say Nolan's epics hold a special place among Chinese audiences. "Nolan is treated by a lot of Chinese audiences almost like a standalone brand," says Dr How Wee Ng, senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, whose research focuses on cinema in the Sinosphere. "Because we have a lot of middle-class, educated urban elites who are now more demanding of cinema. They no longer just want usual action thrillers," Ng says.
Nolan's last film, Oppenheimer, grossed about 450m yuan ($66m) following its 2023 release in China, making it one of the highest grossing films of the year in the country. His previous films, Interstellar and Inception, also remain enduringly popular Hollywood movies among Chinese audiences.
Mixed Expectations for The Odyssey
Liu Nandou, a Beijing-based film critic, expects a relatively modest return for The Odyssey, predicting a total box office take of between 300m and 800m yuan ($44m to $118m). "Nolan's films have a ceiling," Liu told the Global Times, China's state-owned tabloid. "The threshold for understanding The Odyssey is extremely high, and it doesn't fit the broad popcorn audience."
Yu Yaqin, an independent film critic based in Beijing, has higher expectations, saying many may never have read Homer's epics, but they'll still go to the cinema for Nolan. "The idea of returning home and reuniting with one's family resonates with values that are deeply rooted in east Asian cultures," she says.
Yu adds that a recent viral interview with Nolan by Zhong Shu, a Chinese doctoral student and podcaster, will also help the film. The interview garnered tens of millions of views within days, with many Chinese social media users impressed by the young host's in-depth conversation with one of Hollywood's most acclaimed directors, she says.
Ng says the Greek concept of Xenia discussed in the interview, which Nolan translates as "Zeus's law" – an ancient custom governing how people were supposed to treat strangers – has parallels with the Confucian concept of Li, which stresses proper conduct, including courtesy and respect for others, and may therefore feel familiar to Chinese audiences.
A Difficult Moment for China's Cinemas
The film arrives at a difficult moment for China's cinema industry. A sluggish economy and a string of underperforming domestic blockbusters have left many cinemas under financial pressure, prompting exhibitors to look for films that can reliably draw audiences. According to Top Data, a Chinese film industry data analytics company, 806 cinemas closed across China in 2024, while 740 others suspended operations in 2025.
In July, Chinese authorities issued a notice aimed at revitalising the country's cinemas, encouraging operators to diversify by incorporating restaurants and exhibition spaces. Amid this gloomy economic outlook, Yu says American films remain too commercially important for Chinese cinemas to abandon. "With cinemas under mounting financial pressure, they can't afford to turn away American films that are capable of carrying the box office," she says.
