The film grossed $US264.1 million ($A378.6 million) in global ticket sales on its opening weekend, including $US124.5 million in the US and Canada, Universal Pictures said.
The film, based on the ancient Greek poem by Homer, stars Matt Damon as the Greek hero Odysseus, and follows his perilous journey home after fighting the Trojan War.
It is Nolan's first movie since the 2023 blockbuster Oppenheimer, which won Academy Awards in several categories including directing and best picture.
"There's just palpable excitement across the domestic market this weekend for The Odyssey," said Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic theatrical distribution.
The film topped the weekend's domestic box office, according to Rentrak.
It had broad appeal with movie-goers, with half of ticket-buyers between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, Orr told Reuters.
The Odyssey cost $US250 million to make.
It received an A CinemaScore from filmgoers who attended opening-night screenings, and an audience rating of 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film represents Nolan's biggest global opening of all time, without factoring in inflation, and his third-highest-grossing in the US and Canada, behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
Fans began snapping up tickets for the film a year ago when seats at select IMAX theatres were put on sale.
IMAX said demand for tickets was so high, more than 50 theatres across North America added show times between midnight and 7am.
Universal said more than half the audience watched the film in an enhanced format, such as 70 mm IMAX.
IMAX chief executive Richard Gelfond said the company had booked $US50 million in advance ticket sales - its strongest pre-sales ever.
He credited the use of his company's technology for generating more buzz around the movie.
"It was just a well-made - almost perfectly made - movie in many respects," Gelfond said.
Most scholars believe the epic poem attributed to Homer was composed in the seventh or eighth century BC and was sung and passed on orally before it was written down.
Nolan's film centres on a portion of Odysseus's home-coming, where he encounters gods and monsters, storms and tragedy.
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