A full pirated copy of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” spread across X over the weekend, prompting Universal Pictures to launch takedown efforts even as the film continued breaking box office records in its second week of release.
A higher-quality version of the roughly three-hour film began circulating Saturday, collecting millions of views and thousands of reposts before it was removed and the uploading account suspended. A second, lower-quality copy appeared Sunday morning, drawing nearly 50,000 views in the two hours before it came down, with a platform notice stating the media had been disabled following a copyright report.
Universal confirmed the breach in a statement, saying it became aware of the unauthorized posting and immediately initiated takedown protocols. The studio added that it takes copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect its intellectual property. Some viewers speculated online that the leak was a deliberate act tied to the platform’s ownership rather than a conventional piracy incident, though no evidence has surfaced to support that claim, and Universal’s statement did not address it.
The leak comes as “The Odyssey” continues to dominate theaters. The film posted Nolan’s strongest second-weekend domestic result yet, pulling in $87 million, with large-format screens accounting for 57% of that haul as Imax, premium large-format venues and 70mm presentations drove ticket sales. Globally, the film has now crossed $600 million. Nolan shot the picture entirely on Imax cameras and has repeatedly urged audiences to see it in theaters rather than wait for a home release, a message that piracy directly undercuts.
Based on Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey” follows Matt Damon’s King Odysseus as he battles mythical dangers on his long voyage home to Ithaca, where his wife Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, and son Telemachus, played by Tom Holland, await his return. The production marks Nolan’s second consecutive film with Universal after “Oppenheimer,” following his departure from a longtime partnership with Warner Bros.
Major theatrical releases have faced similar breaches before, including early leaks tied to “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” Even the film’s teaser was leaked online last year ahead of its official rollout, despite swift takedown efforts at the time.
