One film anchors July: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, in IMAX theaters July 17. The list below is the syllabus. Five films, five routes into the oldest story in the Western canon, ending at the theater.
Six Films to Watch Before The Odyssey. The Syllabus Ends July 17.
By Some Movie News01
Ulysses1954
The last major screen Odyssey. Kirk Douglas as the king of Ithaca, shot in Technicolor by a crew that included an uncredited Mario Bava. Seventy-two years between adaptations. Start where Nolan's predecessors left off.
02
2001: A Space Odyssey1968
The film Nolan cites as the reason he makes films, and the one he personally restored for 70mm in 2018. Kubrick borrowed Homer's title for a reason. This is the scale The Odyssey is aiming at.
03
O Brother, Where Art Thou?2000
The Coens set Homer in Depression-era Mississippi and credited the poem itself. Proof the story survives any setting. Watch for how much of the structure Nolan inherits.
04
The Martian2015
Matt Damon, stranded impossibly far from home, engineering his way back. His Odysseus audition, a decade early.
05
Dunkirk2017
Nolan's last film about men and the sea. Survival as spectacle, time as the enemy, home visible across the water. The closest thing to a rehearsal in his filmography.
06
The Odyssey2026
The anchor. Nolan shoots Homer on new IMAX film systems with Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson. A 3,000-year-old poem as the event film of the summer. July 17.
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July 2026 Watchlist. One anchor: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, July 17. Five films prepare you for it, from Kirk Douglas in 1954 to Dunkirk. The syllabus is on the site. #TheOdyssey #SomeMovieNews
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July 2026 Watchlist. Five films to watch before Nolan's The Odyssey, from the 1954 Ulysses to Dunkirk. The syllabus ends July 17. #TheOdyssey #SomeMovieNews