First trailer for Matt Damon's $250m film The Odyssey leaks online

Universal Pictures attached the first trailer for their highly-anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey to screenings of Jurassic World Rebirth, and now the teaser has leaked online.

It's an unusual move since the film is still in production and the $250 million film won't hit theaters until July 17, 2026, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus.

However, Jurassic World Rebirth - expected to bring in at least $100 million this weekend - is the biggest film on the studio docket for months, so they attached an early trailer of The Odyssey to it.

Unfortunately, a very low-quality version of the trailer - filmed from inside some movie theater - has made its way online before its official release.

The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan prefers fans to see trailers for his films in theatrical settings, according to The Hollywood Reporter, thus debuting it in front of Jurassic World Rebirth before it arrives online. 

While we are not posting the illegally-captured trailer below, there will be a description, so if you want to avoid spoilers and see the trailer on your own, read on at your own risk.

The trailer begins with an unknown narrator speaking about the title character Odysseus (Matt Damon), who, in the original poem is trying to return home to his wife Penelope after his victory in The Trojan War.

'Darkness. Zeus’ law smashed to pieces. I’m without a king since my master died. He knew it was an unwinnable war. And then, somehow, he won it,' the narrator says.

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Tom Holland is seen filming The Odyssey for the first time with Christopher Nolan in Greece

The trailer shows brief shots of the sea - along with what appears to be a mammoth statue of a Trojan Horse.

Then the trailer shows Jon Bernthal's unnamed character, who says, 'I know nothing of Odysseus, not since Troy, as Odysseus' son Telemachus (Tom Holland) says, 'I have to find out what happened to my father. When did you last see him?'

Bernthal's character shouts to the room, 'Who has a story about Odysseus? You? You have a story? Some say he’s rich. Some say he’s poor. Some said he perished. Some said he’s imprisoned,' along with random shots from the film.

The trailer ends with an old man laying on pieces of driftwood, presumably Damon's title character.

While they were not shown in the trailer, the star-studded cast of The Odyssey also includes Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Mia Goth. 

The film will be the most expensive of Nolan's career, and also the first film in history to shoot entirely on IMAX cameras.

Filming started back in February on location in Greece, Morocco, Italy, Iceland and Los Angeles, with filming also expected to happen in Britain, Scotland and Ireland.

Nolan is directing from his own screenplay - based on the epic poem by Homer that dates back to the 8th Century BC and was first published in English in 1614. 

Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey are two of the oldest surviving works of literature to this date, both considered classics.

There have been numerous foreign language adaptations of The Odyssey throughout the years, plus a 1997 mini-series starring Armand Assante and the Coen Brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou, which is loosely based on The Odyssey.

The Odyssey will be the sole new release in theater on July 17, 2026, as of now, with both Holland and Bernthal hitting screens as Spider-Man and Punisher, respectively, just two weeks later in Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31, 2026.