Pirated ‘The Odyssey’ racks up millions on X before takedown
Collected Photo
Even as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey sails past the $600 million mark at the global box office during its second weekend, Universal Pictures is aggressively battling a wave of digital piracy across social media.
Despite the film’s commercial dominance, illicit copies have surfaced repeatedly on X, the platform owned by Elon Musk. A high-quality bootleg circulated on Saturday, amassing millions of views and thousands of reposts before administrators suspended the offending account and removed the footage.
One user expressed disbelief at the leak, writing, “Someone upload ‘The Odyssey’ full movie on X. Can you believe it?”
The platform witnessed another security breach on Sunday morning when a lower-quality recording appeared online. This version garnered nearly 50,000 views over a two-hour window before the site finally disabled the media.
Following the takedown, a notification on the post informed users, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
In a formal statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Pictures addressed the unauthorized leaks, saying, “We became aware of the unauthorized posting of the film and immediately initiated takedown protocols. We take copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect our content and intellectual property rights.”
While major studios typically anticipate and prepare for bootlegs of highly awaited blockbusters, the industry continues to struggle with large-scale piracy throughout the broader digital ecosystem.
Industry experts noted that the response time for removing infringing content varies significantly by company, and X has earned a reputation for being particularly difficult to work with regarding takedown requests.
Despite these distribution challenges, the film, which adapts Homer’s ancient Greek poem, continues to draw massive audiences to theaters. The narrative follows King Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, as he navigates a treacherous voyage back to Ithaca following the Trojan War.
The story depicts his perilous encounters with mythical creatures during his attempt to reunite with his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and his son, Telemachus (Tom Holland). The production features an extensive ensemble cast, including Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Travis Scott, and Benny Safdie.
Musk accused the director of making “DEI” casting choices to increase the film's chances of receiving Academy Award nominations. He retweeted posts that attacked the casting of Black actress Lupita N’yong’o as Helen of Troy and transgender actor Eliot Page for his role as a Greek warrior.
These comments follow the success of Nolan’s 2023 film “Oppenheimer,” which featured a predominantly white cast and won the Oscar for “Best Picture” in 2024. Musk announced that his AI tool Grok Imagine will produce a “historically accurate” version of “The Odyssey” for release later this year.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter (adapted)
