LOS ANGELES, July 19 (Reuters) - Director Christopher

Nolan's adaptation of "The Odyssey" grossed $264.1 million in

global ticket sales, including $124.5 million in the U.S. and

Canada, Universal Pictures said on Sunday.

The film, based on the ancient Greek poem by Homer, stars Matt

Damon as the Greek hero Odysseus, and follows his perilous

journey home after fighting the Trojan War. It is Nolan's first

movie since the 2023 blockbuster "Oppenheimer," which won

Academy Awards in several categories, including directing and

best picture.

"The Odyssey" cost $250 million to ​make. It received an A

CinemaScore from filmgoers who attended opening-night

screenings, and an audience rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film represents Nolan's biggest global opening of all time,

without factoring in inflation, and his third-highest-grossing

in the U.S. and Canada, behind "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark

Knight Rises."

Fans began snapping up "Odyssey" tickets a year ago when

seats at select ​IMAX theaters were ⁠put on sale. IMAX ( IMAX ) said

demand for tickets was so high, more than 50 theaters across

North America added show times between midnight and 7 a.m..

Most scholars believe the epic poem attributed to Homer was

composed in the seventh or eighth century ​BC and was sung

before that in oral tradition. Nolan's film centers on a portion

of Odysseus's home-coming, where he encounters gods and

monsters, storms and tragedy.