At The Odyssey premiere in Mumbai on Saturday, director Christopher Nolan joked about its prospects as an international summer blockbuster. “It's wonderful how [the movie] kind of brings us together, and for us to go on the road and travel and come here,” the British-born director told the audience, before taking a Spider-Man jab at one of his movie’s stars. “but if you see only one Tom Holland film this summer…”

Because, of course, The Odyssey isn’t a Tom Holland movie. Even with a cast that includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Lupita N’yongo, Charlize Theron and other A-list actors, the only name listed on the poster is the one listed above the title:“A film by Christopher Nolan.”

The 55-year-old director has achieved name-brand status among the most casual moviegoers and developed an army of cinephile devotees for his spectacle-driven films like Inception, Interstellar and a Batman trilogy, culminating in 2023 when he turned Oppenheimer—a three-hour historical drama about the father of the atomic bomb—into a nearly billion-dollar blockbuster and a winner of seven Oscars. This time around he’ll put that drawing power to the test with an even riskier project, a $250 million sword-and-sandal epic shot entirely in IMAX 70mm that rivals the most ambitious movies of all time.

“I think in my mind he's our modern version of [Lawrence of Arabia director] David Lean,” says Ron Howard, the Oscar-winning director of A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13. “He delivers movies that kind of become instant classics.”

For Nolan, that box office prowess also comes with movie star-sized paydays. Forbes estimates that Universal paid him $20 million up front for The Odyssey, as an advance against 20% of the studio’s take from the box office gross, which he shares with his wife and the film’s producer, Emma Thomas (15% and 5%, respectively, per Forbes estimates). It’s a variation on the classic “20 against 20” deal that was standard in decades past for top actors like Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks, but today, only exists for filmmakers who can guarantee a........

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