Universal has taken action after a full, high-quality version of Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" was leaked onto social media platform X. The nearly three-hour film appeared online over the weekend, coinciding with its second week in theaters. While many viewers opted for the theatrical experience, a significant number gained access to the unauthorized upload.
Most, if not all, instances of the leaked film on X have since been removed, with the most prominent posts taken down. The brief availability of the movie online, however, prompted a range of reactions from users, from surprise at the quality and completeness of the leak to humorous commentary. One user quipped, "Watching The Odyssey for the first time via a Twitter leak on my iPhone in a small subscreen up top while scrolling my timeline, just as Nolan intended."
According to Variety, the leaked "The Odyssey" had amassed over 2.1 million views before Universal managed to get it removed. The studio issued a statement confirming its response: "We became aware of the unauthorized posting of the film and immediately initiated takedown protocols. We take copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect our content and intellectual property rights."
Despite the leak, "The Odyssey" is unlikely to be significantly impacted at the box office. The film achieved Nolan's best global debut ever, grossing $264.1 million worldwide, and has continued to perform strongly in its second weekend. This incident also comes as X owner Elon Musk has indicated that his AI tool Grok aims to generate its own version of "The Odyssey" by the end of 2026, which he described as intended to be "historically accurate and true to the art of Homer."
Nolan's commitment to shooting "The Odyssey" entirely with IMAX cameras makes the leak particularly disappointing, especially given the limited availability of 70mm IMAX projectors, a point previously noted by IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond.