The Odyssey has stormed the global box office, taking US$264m (£196m, A$378m) in its opening weekend, according to studio Universal Pictures. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and Zendaya, the blockbuster is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, which follows Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, as he makes his perilous 10-year journey home after fighting in the Trojan war. Released on Friday, the adaptation scored an even bigger debut than Nolan’s 2023 blockbuster Oppenheimer, which ended up making $975m at the global box office.

Nolan’s adaptation of the 2,700-year-old poem reportedly cost a whopping $250m (£185m), with the film-maker saying he was only afforded the chance to make it after Oppenheimer’s financial and critical success. The Odyssey is Nolan’s best ever opening outside of the Batman franchise. His 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises opened globally with US$249m in 2012, or US$362m when adjusted for inflation.

In North America alone, The Odyssey made $124.5m, giving it the third-largest opening of the year after two family films: Toy Story 5 ($159m) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131m), an impressive feat given The Odyssey’s R rating limits the audience that can see it. Universal Pictures initially projected a $100m opening weekend in North America. There, men made up 56% of the general audience and more than three-quarters of ticket buyers older than 25.

Half of the film’s audience were aged between 18 and 34. The UK and Ireland took the top spot for the territory with the biggest international open – with £12.9m (US$17.4m) across three days. The Odyssey is the first feature movie to be filmed entirely with Imax cameras – a system of very heavy and loud cameras that capture a sharper, brighter and higher-resolution content.

Screenings for the film were sold out at the BFI Imax cinema in London for the opening weekend, with fans arriving as early as midnight and 4am to watch the film. The Odyssey was rolled out internationally across 73 markets over the weekend and launched across more than 12,800 locations and 26,000 screens around the world, including 440 Imax screens. In North America, “premium large formats”, which include Imax, accounted for 53% of box office.

Nolan recently told Today that it will be “at least” three years until he makes another movie, due to the challenges of The Odyssey’s shoot. “I’m so desperate to have a period I have nothing to do,” he told the Guardian. “It feels so long since I had a time like that.

It’s true – I get bored very quickly and that’s one of the reasons I like to go back to work. I get restless. At the moment, all I can see is just trying to get through this, put the film out and then take a little break.” The Odyssey has been hailed as Nolan’s “best film to date” in a string of glowing reviews and also stars Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton and Charlize Theron.

Press Association contributed to this report