Director Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey opened July 17 to $124 million domestically and $264 million globally — a record for Nolan, topping The Dark Knight Rises. Critics gave it 95% on Rotten Tomatoes; audiences gave it 97% and an A CinemaScore. The backlash started months before opening day. In January, tech billionaire Elon Musk attacked Nolan for casting Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Sinon. By the final trailer, over 500,000 estimated YouTube dislikes had piled up. Nolan, before a single ticket sold, called the backlash "irrelevant."

Audiences Didn't Care — They Gave It an A

Critics and filmgoers say the film proves mythology belongs to its era's storytellers.

Myths don't come with a fixed cast. Homer's texts describe Helen's beauty but never specify her ethnicity. A Black actress played the role as far back as 1950 — Eartha Kitt took the part. Lupita Nyong'o told press: "This is a mythological story." She also plays Clytemnestra, Helen's sister, in a dual role. Nolan compared the backlash to the prerelease skepticism he faced adapting Batman. He said the work speaks for itself. CinemaScore polls opening-weekend audiences on the way out of the theater; this crowd gave the film an A. It's now tracking toward a second domestic weekend of $61–74 million, which would beat both Dark Knight sequels.

Musk Says the Casting Insults Greek Heritage

He's planning an AI remake and offering to fund a Mel Gibson alternative.

Greek mythology deserves a Greek cast. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has been pushing that argument to his 240 million X followers since January, when he said Nolan had "lost his integrity" over the casting. In May, he called it "one of the dumbest and twisted things I've ever heard" and endorsed posts describing Nyong'o's casting as "racist against the Greek people and their cultural heritage." On July 22, Musk posted: "Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer." When a user suggested giving Mel Gibson $100 million to make a rival adaptation, Musk replied: "I'm down." Matt Walsh, a host at The Daily Wire, called the film "just as woke as you fear, if not more so." He also called it "disjointed, dull, self-serious."

But Shapiro Called It a Masterpiece Anyway

He broke with the boycott — and now he's catching heat from the far right.

Conservative critics are missing the film's entire point. Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, made that argument after he actually watched it. He gave it 8.5–9 out of 10 and named it a "masterpiece" with "Biblical morality," calling Nolan "the best working director today, without a doubt." On the Nyong'o controversy, Shapiro said: "No one in the movie is Greek. Literally no one." Matt Damon is of Nordic descent, Tom Holland is British, Anne Hathaway is American. Shapiro's point: singling out the Black actress for historical accuracy that no one else in the cast meets is a double standard. He did call Elliot Page's casting "silly and egregious." Shapiro is now drawing criticism from the far right for breaking with the boycott. Former Fox News host Lara Trump praised the film on Fox & Friends, and political commentator Dave Rubin called it "an absolute masterpiece."

Where This Lands

Nolan argues that myths have always been rewritten for new audiences. The film made $346 million in its first week. Musk argues the box office proves nothing about fidelity to Homer — and he's now committing Grok to a counter-adaptation. Shapiro's review split the conservative bloc. He and Musk watched the same film and came out on opposite sides — and Shapiro couldn't even fully agree with himself on where Nolan crossed the line.

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