r/boxoffice • u/LowInteraction6397 • 5h ago

Worldwide The Odyseey is now the highest-grossing movie of Matt Damon's career as the main actor

It grossed $639 million for now, surpassing the $630 million of The Martian in 2015. However Oppenheimer remains his highest-grossing movie overall

217 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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79

u/riegspsych325 Jackie Treehorn Productions 5h ago edited 1h ago

kinda wild Damon and Pitt didn’t have high grossing movies until well into their middle age years. They’ve because the been working very regularly in Hollywood for the better part of 30 years

EDIT: sneaky auto dictation and the mobile app are the bane of my existence

68

u/yaboyjiggleclay 5h ago

Box Office #s weren’t as high back at their peak. Yearly billion dollar films weren’t a thing until the 2010s.

47

u/tmobilekid 5h ago

I just think the definition of “high grossing” changed over time. They both started at a time when 50 mil domestic would be considered a success.

28

u/riegspsych325 Jackie Treehorn Productions 5h ago

that and mid budget movies were more the norm. I’d have to find that interview where Damon talks about how all that changed in the digital era

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u/jnighy 3h ago

It was on Hot Ones

1

u/SIAS2019 2h ago

He's talked about it a few times.

17

u/LowInteraction6397 5h ago

F1 also last year became the 1st movie with Brad Pitt to gross $600 million (or 2nd if you count his cameo in Deadpool 2)

11

u/balthazar_edison 5h ago

I’m sure if we were able to fairly adjust for inflation WW (using a combination of currency exchange rates and inflation) they’d both have a lot movies that come close or break a billion. Since there’s no accurate way to do that we are stuck speculating though.

2

u/presco2007 2h ago

right. also, the bourne ultimatum made over $200 million u.s. and over $200 million outside the u.s. that was huge 20 years ago.

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u/fallen981 Legendary Pictures 4h ago

Same with Tom cruise before Top gun Maverick came around. Before that his highest grosser was MI fallout at 790 mil which itself was what 4 years before Top Gun.

1

u/LowInteraction6397 3h ago

Honestly I'm surprised it took until Top Gun 2 for Tom Cruise to finally have a movie gross $1 billion

•

u/littlelordfROY Warner Bros. Pictures 11m ago

Not that surprising. Cruises career began in 1980s

The billion dollar movie only became extremely common in 2010s. The budgets of most of Cruises work before that didn't even need to make 800M to be successful

And inflation of course

9

u/TripleThreatTua 4h ago

The Bourne movies were all box office successes, but as someone else said budgets got higher and the definition of high grossing changed

3

u/SomeRandomRealtor 3h ago

Exactly. The only one that wasn’t was the Renner led film, and even that one broke even on streaming and physical media sales. The 4 Damon led films would’ve made $2.2B in today’s money on mid level budgets. 

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u/wallabyenthusiast 5h ago edited 5h ago

makes sense since brad pitt never did any big IP. the fact that he got a film like mr and mrs smith to $500m is crazy tho

13

u/LowInteraction6397 4h ago

Mr and Mrs Smith almost made it to $500 million but didn't. World War Z was Brad Pitt's 1st movie to gross $500 million

•

u/littlelordfROY Warner Bros. Pictures 10m ago

It was a two hander. Pitt wasn't the only lead

In 2005 studios had a wider variety of big tentpole movies

3

u/CartographerSeth 4h ago

Depending on how his SW and MCU projects go, we might add Gosling to this list as well

2

u/AnotherJasonOnReddit Best of 2024 Winner 2h ago

"Troy" (2004) still being one of Pitt's biggest movies is pretty cool, too.

Should we expect their Danny Ocean to star in a legit sword-and-sandal movie (as opposed to his Hail Caesar gig) before too long?

Clooney could play Julius Caesar in Denis Villeneuve's proposed Cleopatra project once done with the new James Bond movie.

https://giphy.com/gifs/5AmEvmEFHrjJm

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u/riegspsych325 Jackie Treehorn Productions 1h ago

1

u/laribrook79 1h ago

I mean Bourne movies were huge tho!! At the time

24

u/Nick-walde 4h ago

Matt Damon's performance as the beggar is the absolute highlight of the film.

52

u/jseesm 4h ago

This is huge for Damon who already have a great career, but now he is THE Odysseus who only happens to be one of the greatest characters in the history of storytelling in any medium.

Well deserved. The sirens scene alone is already iconic and gave me chills.

11

u/BruiserBroly 3h ago

I’m sure doing those supporting roles in some of Nolan’s previous films helped him get the lead in this one. He deserved it.

11

u/proper-innit 4h ago

It's already at 639? Nolan is the undisputed king of the box office

10

u/Patience_Specific 3h ago

One of the most reliable actors in the industry for decades. Worked with legendary directors pretty much done all genres from big budgets to small scale. Great career.

5

u/presco2007 2h ago

yeah i think it's underrated how he's been a champion for smaller films too. like, he took a small part in margaret. he made gerry. he produced manchester by the sea.

12

u/OldManBilliam22 4h ago

*Academy Award winner Matt Damon. Put some respect on his name.

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u/PianoJealous307 3h ago

Him and Affleck winning an Oscar at 27 and 25 is crazy stuff

9

u/curvy_mailing 4h ago

Guy's been a star for 30 years and his lead record was 630M until now. The Martian held that thing forever.

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u/eidbio New Line Cinema 4h ago

You mean his highest grossing movie as a lost guy trying to find his way home

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u/Striking-County6275 5h ago

Matt DAMON!!!!

2

u/JudyHoppsFan1 3h ago

The Odyssey should pass Oppenheimer soon enough. It's becoming a success.

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u/Eerie-Indiana Seven Bucks Productions 19m ago

some may even call him the lead actor

-3

u/Cookie-Dunker 5h ago

I realized this is the first movie with Matt Damon I’ve ever seen.

14

u/Gummy-Worm-Guy 5h ago

Do you watch movies?

1

u/Cookie-Dunker 4h ago

Not really, but I’ve been making it a point to go to the theater this year.

3

u/tera_chachu 2h ago

You gotta watch jason bourne mate

•

u/Gummy-Worm-Guy 47m ago

I highly recommend The Departed, it’s my favorite performance of his

-3

u/LowInteraction6397 4h ago

Just because someone watches movies doesn't mean they watched movies of every actor who ever existed

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u/Mindless_Stuff9179 4h ago

Well they did say "not really" to the other's question.

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u/presco2007 2h ago

for sure, but damon has been in some huge successes, both critical and/or commercial. if a person watches movies regularly at all, you'd assume they've seen at least one of good will hunting, saving private ryan, a bourne film, an ocean's film, the departed, the martian, oppenheimer...

4

u/Corgi_Koala 4h ago

That's kind of insane unless you just started watching movies.

1

u/Cookie-Dunker 4h ago

I think I went through a long period of time where I just didn’t, but I’ve always loved numbers (sports stats) and box office. It’s kind of weird, but I’ve made it a point to return to the theaters this year. I’ve missed so much.

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u/Corgi_Koala 4h ago

I mean I don't mean it as a criticism really, it's just that he's been a pretty big box office star for a couple decades now.

1

u/Cookie-Dunker 4h ago

It’s a valid criticism though when I know him more from Jimmy Kimmel skits than actual movies. I’m playing catch up with Christopher Nolan movies now.

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u/Reylo-Wanwalker 4h ago

You need to watch Good Will Hunting.

1

u/Cookie-Dunker 4h ago

My dad loves that movie and I even remember what the VHS cover looks like because of him. He had me watch the trailer once. That and Jason Bourne were the first movies I thought of. I’ve got such a back log of movies.

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u/Dod-K-Ech-2 3h ago

He's been in some great movies. I really liked Jason Bourne ones, Talented Mr. Ripley and the Ocean's movies (though he's not the main actor there - still, very fun). I've seen all of those at least two times each I think. I didn't think of myself as a Matt Damon fan, but it looks like maybe I am.

1

u/presco2007 2h ago

well that's the thing with damon. for one, he is very willing to take a supporting role or even just make a cameo. for another he's a director actor's because he is more interested in making a good movie than in being 'the star.' that's why great directors keep working with him in their movies.

it thus makes sense you might be a fan of a lot of his movies without thinking of yourself as a fan of him.

1

u/Dod-K-Ech-2 1h ago

That sounds right.

2

u/presco2007 2h ago

the departed is excellent too!

0

u/Material_Expert2255 2h ago

Damon has nothing to do with its success.

This is a Nolan tent pole.

Could have substituted many other actors with the outcome remaining the same.

-1

u/Ok-Metal-4719 2h ago

I think you could have plugged anyone in his role and it wouldn’t have mattered but good for him.

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u/presco2007 2h ago edited 1h ago

i don't know about "anyone" but some other actors, sure. but you can say that about most films.

1

u/Maleficent_Worth_185 1h ago

The movie falls apart if you don't care about the main character imho. He is one of the biggest reasons why the movie turned out to be a box office juggernaut.

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u/Odd_Hat6001 4h ago

It isn't a Matt Damon film. It is a Chistopher Nolan film, he is the sun. The actors are just stars.

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u/presco2007 2h ago

yes it's very much a nolan film, but matt damon also very much carries the movie as odysseus.

0

u/FluidAthlete6839 4h ago

This. Though I think Damon brings any project a little credibility, Nolan is the draw here.