When Christopher Nolan visited India on a two-day tour to promote ‘The Odyssey’ in Mumbai, it wasn’t just another stop in between his global press tour. Nolan's choice of Mumbai for the film’s promotions meant that India has transformed into one of his biggest international markets, a fact that is supported by the opening day collection of ‘The Odyssey’ in India.

With a gross collection of Rs. 20.76 crore on its debut day, ‘The Odyssey’ has become Nolan’s biggest opener in India. Its strong English-language collections and sales from premium-format screenings have also made the film one of the country’s biggest Hollywood openers to date.

The opening collections of ‘The Odyssey’ are significant, as they reflect on a trend that wasn’t built overnight, but has been building for nearly a decade.

Christopher Nolan went from modest openings to record-breaking collections in India

Nolan enjoys a huge fanbase in India. But a few years ago, this fan base was limited to a niche audience.

When ‘Dunkirk’ was released in the Indian theatres in 2017, its total collections were recorded around Rs. 26 crore. Similarly, ‘Tenet’, which was released in the pandemic era, collected about 10.6 crore (gross). Similarly, 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’ earned him about Rs. 8-9 crore, while ‘Inception’ minted about Rs. 24-25 crore in 2010. Things changed further for Nolan when his 2012 film ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ earned about Rs. 33 crore, becoming his greatest hit at that time.

Then came the release of 2023’s ‘Oppenheimer’, which proved to be a game-changer for Nolan in India. With an overall collection of Rs. 155-157 crore (gross), ‘Oppenheimer’ became Nolan’s highest-grossing film in the country, a collection that none of his previous films could match.

Now, as ‘The Odyssey’ opened in India with a strong Rs. 20.76 crore gross, it has not only beaten ‘Oppenheimer’s opening day collection (Rs. 17.37 crore gross, across languages), but also shows how Nolan’s fanbase has massively increased.

‘The Odyssey’ stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Hollywood’s biggest franchises

What’s more interesting is the company that ‘The Odyssey’ has included itself in. For decades, Hollywood’s biggest openings in India belonged to established film franchises such as ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Avatar’, ‘Avengers’, ‘Jurassic World’, ‘Fast & Furious’, among others. These were the films that had built-in fanbases and came with decades-old brands.

But ‘The Odyssey’, unlike these films, is neither a film franchise nor part of a cinematic universe. An adaptation of a 3,000-year-old Greek poem, ‘The Odyssey’ is a standalone movie. Yet, it has successfully included itself in Hollywood’s top five biggest openers in India - 'Avatar: The Way of Water' (2022) with Rs. 41 crore, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' (2021) with Rs. 32.67 crore, 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' (2022) with Rs. 27.5 crore, 'The Odyssey' (2026) with Rs. 20.76 crore gross, and 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' (2025) with Rs. 20.05 crore.

Why India matters more than ever?

When you talk about Nolan’s biggest overseas markets, his collections are ruled by countries such as the United Kingdom, China (when it’s released there), France, and Australia. India may not be on the list, but it certainly is one of the fastest-growing international markets for Nolan.

This can also be confirmed by how, just in a decade’s time, Nolan’s collections went from Rs. 26 crore for ‘Dunkirk’ in 2017 to Rs. 150-155 crore for ‘Oppenheimer’ in 2023.

In fact, the film’s producer, Emma Thomas, on her recent visit to Mumbai, spoke about Hollywood films’ growing economics in India.

“You have such a vibrant Bollywood and other Indian film tradition here, and I'm thrilled that Hollywood is also seeing potential for bringing films here. I think that there's been a lot of talk in Hollywood about people not going to the cinema anymore, and I think that India is showing us that actually, the future is in theatres. So we're very happy to be able to bring this film here, we're very happy that there will be many more films here, and we're very happy that Hollywood films are doing such great business here, because ultimately, as Chris said, what we love to do is make films that resonate with people around the world, and so it's a huge privilege to be able to release movies in India,” said Thomas.

Christopher Nolan’s biggest star in India is Christopher Nolan himself

With ‘Oppenheimer’ and now ‘The Odyssey’, Nolan’s work has also proved that the Indian audience isn’t just drawn to his movies for the stars that he casts, but for the stardom that ‘a Christopher Nolan film’ holds.

Not just that, it also shows that he doesn’t need to make a superhero film or a franchise to bring the audience to the theatres, but a biopic or an adaptation of an ancient poem can easily draw audiences.

Among the many factors that make Nolan a brand in itself is his choice of practical filmmaking and the immersive theatrical experience that he is best known for.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that for Nolan, India has become a growing market where his name alone can generate a blockbuster-level collection, which only a handful of Hollywood directors, other than him, have achieved.