How Long Is The Odyssey? Christopher Nolan Film’s Runtime Confirmed

As soon as it was revealed that Christopher Nolan would be following up his Oscar-winning historical biopic Oppenheimer with a new adaptation of the classic tome, The Odyssey, it was pretty obvious that we were in for another bum-numbing epic from the British director.

Nolan is already known for not shying away from a long runtime with his big-screen offerings, with some of his biggest films clocking in at long after the two-hour mark.

Inception, for example, lasts a total of 148 minutes, with Tenet beating that by two minutes.

Another of his most popular movies, Interstellar, lasts just shy of three hours at 169 minutes, while his latest film, Oppenheimer, ran for three hours exactly.

So, how will The Odyssey compare?

The good news for anyone worried about whether they’re going to need bathroom and snack breaks when planning their cinema trip for The Odyssey is that the film isn’t quite as long as Oppenheimer.

However, it has to be said that it’s still one of Nolan’s longest movies to date, at 172 minutes in total, as reported by Ireland’s official film classification body, the IFCO.

Of course, it’s understandable that The Odyssey would be a long one, considering how much material there is for Nolan to condense into one film.

Based on Homer’s Greek epic, the original story centres around Odysseus and his mammoth journey home to his wife and son in Ithaca at the end of the Trojan war, where along the way he has to face adversaries from mythology like the cyclops and sirens.

Matt Damon will take the lead as Odysseus in the new film adaptation of the tale, sharing the screen with everyone from Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland to Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron.

The Odyssey is due to hit cinemas on Friday 17 July. Check out our more in-depth guide to the new Nolan film here.