{"id":13004,"date":"2026-07-21T23:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13004"},"modified":"2026-07-21T23:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:18:28","slug":"christopher-nolans-the-odyssey-movie-is-making-gen-z-listen-to-the-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13004","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Nolan&#8217;s &#8216;The Odyssey&#8217; Movie Is Making Gen Z Listen to the Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/christopher-nolan\/\" id=\"auto-tag_christopher-nolan\" data-tag=\"christopher-nolan\">Christopher Nolan<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/lists\/the-odyssey-ranking-performances-christopher-nolan-tom-holland-matt-damon-robert-pattinson-zendaya\/tom-holland-telemachus\/\">film adaptation of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d<\/a> is a bona fide cultural phenomenon (<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/opinion\/the-odyssey-elon-musk-diversity-christopher-nolan-lupita-nyongo-1236747945\/\">sorry, trolls!<\/a>), shattering box office projections with a <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/box-office\/odyssey-box-office-christopher-nolan-1236816035\/\">$264.1 million worldwide gross<\/a> its opening weekend, earning rave reviews from critics, unleashing <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/awards\/odyssey-oscars-chances-christopher-nolan-best-picture-1236814404\/\">a tidal wave of Oscar buzz<\/a> and causing such a frenzy for Imax 70mm tickets that moviegoers have gone as far as embarking on <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/the-odyssey-fans-frenzy-imax-70mm-tickets-1236809522\/\">cross-country trips and delaying pregnancies to see it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe enormous popularity of Nolan\u2019s summer blockbuster, which stars <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/christopher-nolan-explains-odyssey-oppenheimer-feminism-1236817097\/\">Matt Damon as Odysseus<\/a>, who crosses paths with goddesses, sirens, a cyclops, armored giants and a Scylla during his decade-long return to Ithaca \u2014 where his wife and son, played by Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland, have been fending off a hall of scheming suitors vying for her hand and his throne \u2014 following the events of the Trojan War, has also boosted sales of <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/the-odyssey-changes-christopher-nolan-adapts-homer-1236814443\/\">the book version of Homer\u2019s nearly 3,000-year-old tale<\/a>, as sales across all <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/film\/news\/the-odyssey-changes-christopher-nolan-adapts-homer-1236814443\/\">editions of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d<\/a> are up 76% this year, according to data from Circana BookScan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnd, as <em>Variety <\/em>can exclusively reveal, the Nolan bump has extended to <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/spotify\/\" id=\"auto-tag_spotify\" data-tag=\"spotify\">Spotify<\/a> streams of the audiobook format of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/the-odyssey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_the-odyssey\" data-tag=\"the-odyssey\">The Odyssey<\/a>.\u201d According to Spotify, \u201cAcross 91 audiobook editions in 10 languages, \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 has now been listened to on Spotify for the equivalent of more than 43 years of continuous playback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThere\u2019s more: On July 17, the opening day of Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d listens to the audiobook of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d jumped more than 500% on Spotify; in June, weeks before the premiere, listens to \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 jumped increased more than 240%, while post-premiere listens are on pace to be up roughly 680%; and on Spotify, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d has been especially popular among younger listeners, with 36% of listeners being Gen Z, 45% Millennial, and male listeners, with 63% of all listenership being men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s always exciting to see beloved classics find new audiences,\u201d Lena Yang, Senior Editor for Audiobooks at Spotify, tells <em>Variety<\/em>. \u201cAudiobooks offer a fresh way to experience timeless tales, and it\u2019s especially rewarding to see listeners returning to \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 in such a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher Nolan\u2019s film adaptation of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d is a bona fide cultural phenomenon (sorry, trolls!), shattering box office projections with a $264.1 million worldwide gross its opening weekend, earning rave reviews from critics, unleashing a tidal wave of Oscar buzz and causing such a frenzy for Imax 70mm tickets that moviegoers have gone as far&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CT-54129_MSG_3b52e1.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}