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Nolan's Odyssey sends Homer up the charts: UK print sales up 1,400% in four weeks

Christopher Nolan's film The Odyssey, released in mid-July, has turned Homer's epic into one of the year's best-selling books. UK print sales of The Odyssey rose 1,400% in the four weeks to July 25 compared with a year earlier, NielsenIQ figures show, reported by The Star in Malaysia, carrying AFP, and by The Guardian. Waterstones said sales of Emily Wilson's 2017 translation were up more than 1,000%.

In the US, Circana BookScan puts year-to-date print sales of all editions up 76%. The Guardian reported that the New York Public Library saw demand rise 338% between July 2 and July 30, and that a Brooklyn bookshop sold 80 copies of Wilson's version in a month, up from single digits. Wilson's publisher said her translation had passed one million US copies in all formats by early July. British poetry sales overall topped £8m in the first 30 weeks of 2026, up 13.3%.

“If this is a gimmick, it's been a gimmick that's been lasting for over 2,000 years at this point” — Richard Kendall, University of Exeter, via The Star

Euronews widened the lens: Google searches for “learn Greek” rose 5,000% in a fortnight, and listening to The Odyssey on Spotify in France jumped more than 752%. All three outlets noted the irony that Wilson, whose translation benefits most, wrote that the film “lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth”.

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — bookshops and libraries, plus a record year for UK poetry.
• The Star (AFP) — British data and classicists' delight.
• Euronews — Europe-wide ripple, from audiobooks to language learning.

Where the numbers differ: Euronews says UK sales are up 70% on 2025; the 1,400% figure covers only the four weeks after release. AFP puts the film's worldwide gross at $640m, Euronews at more than $650m.