Friday, July 24, 2026

Box Office: “The Odyssey” on the Brink of $200 Mil Today in Just One Week, Still With Shows Sold Out Around the Clock, Plus “The Invite” Being Declined

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LOL. So close and yet so close.

“The Odyssey” will cross the $200 million line tonight after one week in release. It’s on the brink, teetering last night at $199 million.

Shows are still sold out around the clock.

Plus, two different translations of Homer’s epic poem are in the amazon top 20! People not in high school are voluntarily reading “The Odyssey”! No numbers yet but you can bet Homer’s heirs will be demanding royalty statements!

Meantime, A24’s “The Invite” is being declined after a strong indie start. “The Invite” has a total of almost $18 million but it’s down 29% from last week.

I was one of those who put down some cash for a ticket this week. “The Invite” is “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” if made by Woody Allen at his height. It’s also kind of a psychological horror thriller that could easily be performed on stage — I’ll bet it comes to Broadway next.

Olivia Wilde’s direction is superb. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack’s screenplay is going to get all kinds of awards attention. But so, too, will all four actors starting with Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton, Wilde herself, and Seth Rogen playing the Woody character. And Sting gets a shout-out for tantric sex! Nice work!

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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