Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film adaptation The Hollywood Reporter has surpassed $727 million globally at the box office after 12 days in theaters, according to reports. The movie cost approximately $250 million to make and about $100 million to promote. Universal has distributed the project, which stars Matt Damon in the central role alongside Zendaya in a star-studded cast. Despite its strong commercial performance, the film is expected to slip from its chart-topping perch when Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrives in theaters.
Box Office Milestones and Critical Backdrop
Before the cinematic release, director Christopher Nolan cited the 2017 translation of Homer’s epic by classicist Emily Wilson as a key reference point, specifically noting that he used the opening line — Tell me about a complicated man
— when constructing his protagonist. Universal has disputed claims that Nolan was directly inspired by Wilson’s text, emphasizing that the director had been linked to an adaptation long before her translation was published.
Emily Wilson’s Script Critique and Literary Clash
The off-screen drama escalated when Emily Wilson published a critical essay about the film in the London Review of Books. The 4,000-word review briefly crashed the publication’s website and contained a harsh assessment of the script. Wilson wrote that it lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth
and added, The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has a convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.
Wilson also argued that hiring a dedicated scriptwriter would have resolved many narrative issues instead of having Nolan write the screenplay himself. Furthermore, Wilson criticized the production’s decision to film part of the movie in the occupied territory of Western Sahara. Despite her objections to the script, Wilson acknowledged that the actors were doing their absolute best with the material given to them and noted that the film is still worth seeing.
Joyce Carol Oates Defends the Filmmaker
The review prompted novelist Joyce Carol Oates to take to X to defend Christopher Nolan from the classicist’s critique. Oates took issue with both the style and rhetoric of Wilson’s essay, stating that the translator spoke in a harsh tone and criticized her for attacking someone with differing ideas. Rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner,
Oates wrote, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers.
Oates added that she would expect a translator beholden to a text to be more thoughtful and respectful of others acting in good faith. Previously, Oates had offered her own perspective on cinematic adaptations of the epic, comparing Nolan’s version unfavorably to a 1997 miniseries co-produced by Francis Coppola and starring Armand Assante, while still recommending Nolan’s film overall.
Surge in Translation Sales and Broader Impact
Amid the ongoing debate between scholars, authors, and moviegoers, the cultural attention surrounding the film has significantly boosted public interest in ancient literature. Sales of Homer’s epic poems and related translations have seen a substantial uptick. UK bookseller TGJones reported a 1,560% rise in searches for the Iliad over the month.
While the film has driven heavy consumer interest in classical texts, industry observers note that no royalties from the motion picture would be paid to any writer other than Nolan himself. Meanwhile, Wilson continues her work on classical literature, preparing a collection of essays titled Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature for a September release, alongside a new, less constrained translation of Homer’s epic poem.
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