The Odyssey Puts Christopher Nolan Above Marvel's Biggest Directors At The Box Office

Christopher Nolan is and has long been in a class of his own in terms of modern movie directors. "Oppenheimer" cemented Nolan as one of the all-time best box office bets, but "The Odyssey" has only further affirmed his standing as a true cinematic great. Not just because he makes Oscar-winning, widely acclaimed cinema, but because he's now literally one of the biggest directors ever in terms of the box office. So much so that he's surpassed Marvel's biggest directing duo thanks to "The Odyssey."

As of this writing, "The Odyssey" has made $931 million worldwide and is well on its way to becoming Nolan's biggest movie ever, overtaking 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises" ($1.08 billion worldwide). With that, the director's lifetime box office total for movies he's directed has climbed to $6.95 billion. That puts him at number three on the list of the 10 highest-grossing directors ever at the box office, surpassing Joe and Anthony Russo, aka. the Russo Brothers.

The Russo Brothers are behind the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe movies of all time. Most notably, they helmed 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War" ($2 billion worldwide) and its box office record-shattering 2019 follow-up "Avengers: Endgame", which pmade $2.79 billion worldwide, briefly overtaking James Cameron's "Avatar" ($2.92 billion) to become the biggest film ever.

To date, the Russos have pulled in $6.76 billion globally, thanks almost entirely to their work within the MCU. That work also includes 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," the film that turned Captain America into a box office superstar, bringing in $714.4 million worldwide. The Russos then returned to helm "Captain America: Civil War" ($1.15 billion worldwide), which became the biggest movie globally of 2016.

The only directors who exist above Christopher Nolan on this prestigious list are James Cameron ($10.5 billion) and Steven Spielberg ($10.9 billion). Nolan still has a long way to go but, at the same time, Cameron and Spielberg aren't getting any younger. It's entirely possible he can get there before all's said and done.

As for Nolan, he's certainly had some help from superheroes in his career, being the man behind the "Dark Knight" trilogy. Batman was a big help, no doubt as "The Dark Knight" was simply too good to be ignored and made $1 billion at a time when very few movies ever crossed that coveted benchmark. But Nolan has made the most of his career outside of established franchises, too, which is why he now sits above the Russo Brothers.

Nolan also scored one of the biggest original box office hits ever with "Inception" ($839.3 million). To further illustrate how consistent he's been, Nolan holds an impressive box office record as the only director to ever have five movies in a row make at least $500 million worldwide, stretching from "The Dark Knight" to "Dunkirk." Had "Tenet" not been released in 2020, that record may well have stretched to eight movies now.

But Nolan may not sit in the bronze medal position for very long. The Russo Brothers have "Avengers: Doomsday" arriving in December, and it's poised to become one of 2026's biggest movies. That will be followed by 2027's "Avengers: Secret Wars," which should only further put them very comfortably back in the number three spot. But that takes nothing away from what Nolan has accomplished, all without the benefit of a cinematic universe behind him.

"The Odyssey" is in theaters now.