Ryan Reynolds Cheers as Nolan's The Odyssey Claims R-Rated Box Office Crown

There is something quietly poetic about Christopher Nolan, a filmmaker whose entire career has been built on the mythology of cinema itself, now holding the record once claimed by a movie that spent much of its runtime winking at that very mythology. The Odyssey has surpassed Deadpool & Wolverine to become the highest-grossing R-rated film ever made — and the man who starred in that previous record-holder has offered his congratulations with characteristic wit.

A New Benchmark for Nolan's Career

According to IGN, The Odyssey crossed the $1 billion threshold earlier this month and has since climbed to approximately $1.34 billion at the global box office, narrowly edging out Deadpool & Wolverine's final theatrical gross of $1.338 billion. It is now the highest-earning film in Nolan's entire filmography — a catalog that already includes The Dark Knight, Inception, and Oppenheimer — and stands as one of the defining commercial achievements of this theatrical season. Only Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has amassed over $2 billion, has outperformed it at the 2025 box office. Notably, 70mm IMAX screenings of the film are being extended through September 16, suggesting the film still has box office runway ahead of it. For a director who has long championed the theatrical experience — even influencing peers in their own IMAX ambitions — this kind of sustained audience engagement feels like a validation of everything he has argued about the power of the cinema-going ritual.

Reynolds Sends Off the Record with Humor

Ryan Reynolds, never one to let a moment pass without turning it into content, posted a short video to social media that intercutting footage from both films. The clip juxtaposes a moment of quiet, forest-bound tension featuring Matt Damon as Odysseus with the kinetic, vehicle-destroying mayhem of Deadpool and Wolverine brawling inside — of all things — a fourth-generation Honda Odyssey minivan. The visual joke lands precisely because it plays on the word both films share, and it builds to a winking, expletive-laden endorsement from Deadpool himself. Reynolds captioned the post: "Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of The Odyssey for becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. That is one helluva car." It is the kind of gracious, self-deprecating gesture that has become something of a Reynolds trademark, and it underscores the genuine camaraderie that seems to exist between the two productions.

What the Achievement Says About the Film

The success of The Odyssey is not entirely surprising given the creative and commercial momentum that surrounded its release. Nolan's adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic was always a high-stakes proposition — translating one of Western literature's foundational works for a modern mass audience, while preserving enough of its mythic weight to justify the material. Tom Holland's experience navigating Nolan's exacting vision on set offered early signals that this would be a production unwilling to soften its ambitions, and the director's own approach to assembling his cast reflected that same deliberateness. For those still working through the film's more ambiguous final act, the conversation around its meaning remains very much alive — which itself speaks to the kind of cultural longevity that separates a genuine event film from a merely successful one.

Looking Ahead at a Packed Season

The broader theatrical landscape heading into the fall and winter looks equally competitive. Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday are both targeting December releases, while Coyote vs. Acme — after its long and well-publicized journey to the screen — is set to open August 28 with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, meanwhile, appear to be circling a return engagement of their own, with both actors having made appearances in Doomsday promotional material at San Diego Comic-Con and D23 this summer. The box office crown may have changed hands, but the competition is far from over.