Shades of Barbenheimer. In July 2023, movie fans were torn between the simultaneous release of two blockbusters, Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Now they're faced with another epic choice: Nolan's The Odyssey, which debuts Friday, or Sunday's World Cup final. A survey from Just Watch has a slight majority favoring The Odyssey, but 59% say they plan to watch both.
Nolan has assembled a cast of A-listers in his retelling of Homer's Odyssey. The film , produced for $250 million, is the first shot entirely on IMAX cameras. "The buzz is extraordinary," says Stephen Galloway, dean of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University, and former executive editor of The Hollywood Reporter. "There's no question they're going to have a huge hit on their hands. The big question is: Will it beat Oppenheimer?", which grossed more than $976 million worldwide.
Hollywood's domestic box office sales through July 12 was $5.15 billion, up 10.7% from a year ago, and on pace to surpass 2023 as the best year since 2019, says Rentrak. Analysts expect The Odyssey to bail out lukewarm openings of other summer films. Domestic estimates for its debut weekend range from $100 million to $125 million.
That would make it the third largest domestic debut this year, behind Toy Story 5, which sold $159.7 million its first weekend, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, at $131.7 million, says Rentrak. It could gross another $110 million or so internationally. Roth senior research analyst Eric handler says Nolan's movies have strong staying power, and The Odyssey could ultimately quadruple its weekend sales. Still, the World Cup has Messi.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
Last Week
Markets
The U.S. and Iran cease-fire crumbled, and global stocks fell as oil prices hit four-week highs. On Monday, SK Hynix sank over 15% in Korea. President Trump reimposed the Iran blockade and said the U.S. would charge 20% for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, then walked the toll back. Inflation cooled to 3.5% in June. Stocks rebounded on artificial-intelligence hopes, then fell on Thursday as Chinese start-up Moonshot AI released a competitive model. Chips sold off hard on Friday. On the week, the Dow industrials fell 0.9%; the S&P 500, 1.6%; and the Nasdaq Composite, 2.9%.
Companies
In a parting shot from Tim Cook, Apple sued OpenAI for stealing trade secrets. JPMorgan Chase and other big banks reported record results fueled by trading. A dozen states, led by California, sued Paramount Skydance on antitrust grounds for its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. New York became the first state to place a moratorium on new data centers. IBM warned on profits as software sales took a hit from AI; shares plunged 25%. SpaceX saw its stock fall beneath its offering price; then it had to abort a Starship launch.
Deals
Nippon Paint offered $8.6 billion for AkzoNobel's paint business in the face of an earlier offer from Axalta Coating Systems...Reuters reported that Stripe and Advent International made a joint $53 billion bid for payments processor PayPal... Uber Technologies is buying Delivery Hero for $14.8 billion.
Next Week
Wednesday, 7/22
Google parent Alphabet and Tesla are the first of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks to report this earnings season. Alphabet was one of only two Mag Seven stocks to fall in the week that ended July 10, when Big Tech had a resurgence, and the stock (along with many other Big Tech names) weighed on the market this past week. Alphabet has suffered several high-profile losses recently, as other artificial-intelligence companies have poached its talent.
Thursday, 7/23
The Department of Labor will release initial jobless claims for the week ending on July 18. Economists expect 215,000 people to file for unemployment benefits, up from 208,000 in the prior week. Recent employment readings have suggested a labor market that is cooling but remains relatively steady, despite concerns about companies' increasing use of AI; however, job seekers have reported fairly sour sentiment.
Friday, 7/24
The Census Bureau will report new-home sales for June, after a downbeat surprise for existing-home sales. That metric dropped unexpectedly month over month, the National Association of Realtors said earlier this month. Existing-home prices hit a record high, and mortgage rates remain elevated, creating serious obstacles for home buyers.
The Numbers
10%
The amount of global refining capacity currently not operating, some 8.4 million barrels a day.
11%
The fall in second-quarter year-over-year global smartphone shipments, the worst quarter in 13 years.
71%
Rise in exports of Chinese electric vehicles in June from a year earlier, some 1.1 million vehicles.
$100 B
How much more Taiwan Semiconductor plans to invest in U.S. chip output, bringing its total to $265 billion.
Write to Robert Teitelman at robrt.teitelman@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 17, 2026 19:17 ET (23:17 GMT)
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