Intro for July 20, 2026

Dear Gossips,

It was a weekend for the pop culture gods. The World Cup, of course, is the Olympus of sport – and since the final was set in the United States, the event brought together global superstars from almost every entertainment stream, from football to music to movies and television and also the celebrities of the digital generation. But mythological figures from the past were also present in our current timeline, as The Odyssey opened to Herculean expectations …and delivered.

The reviews are outstanding, and the box office is massive with a worldwide opening of almost $265 million, which is now Christopher Nolan's biggest, surpassing even The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, a superhero movie that came out well before COVID, and during a mega-boom decade for theatrical attendance. But, then again, The Odyssey is a superhero movie, isn’t it? As we’ve been saying, it is superheroes and Star Wars and horror, it is a disaster epic, a political thriller, a family drama – it is the origin story of almost every story, from a foundational text dating back over two thousand years. And it appealed to all generations.

And now, of course, The Odyssey is officially an Oscar frontrunner with both critical acclaim and box office clout. It’s just a matter of how many nominations. Technical achievements across the board, of course, for sure the film will be represented in those categories; and I can’t imagine it won’t contend for Best Picture. Whether or not the Academy will reward Nolan again so soon after Oppenheimer remains to be seen but it would surprise no one if he’s contending for Best Director during the next award season. But how many acting nominations are we looking at? The standout performance, for me, in the film is Anne Hathaway as Penelope. She is, as usual, outrageously great as Mother Ithaca Penelope. Greek drama and extra suits her so well. And this bitch still has another movie coming out in a few weeks, we’ll see her again in a big ass movie before the end of the summer!

Then there’s Matt Damon, who’s already been campaigning through the press tour, and it would be weird if the title character wasn’t a factor in the studio’s award season strategy. But it’ll be interesting to see how much push they put behind Tom Holland. Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus are the family unit at the heart of the film and the three actors playing them were centered in the promotion leading up to the release. In her review on Friday, Sarah wrote that this is the best performance of Tom’s career, although his chances, in comparison to his onscreen parents, are probably the weakest. Stronger now that the film has come out and is such a smash hit but there are already some heavyweights lined up in contention in the supporting actor category whose films will likely be in the conversation in the fall, from John Goodman, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Strong, Paul Giammatti, plus Colman Domingo for his performance in Michael, and more.

Still, what this means is that we’ve not seen the last of Team Odyssey. They will no doubt reunite in full or in part in the fall and winter to hustle on the Oscar circuit. And don’t forget, Tom and Zendaya still have Spider-Man: Brand New Day in less than two weeks!

Tom was at the World Cup final yesterday, in an Ami Paris t-shirt (this is an affiliate link) that I just tried on the other day at the store, I LOVE it. The material feels so great and lightweight and it’s a perfect boxy fit.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey