The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home from the Trojan War. Its viewers, however, are heading in the opposite direction…back to Troy.

Christopher Nolan’s epic has quickly become one of the year’s biggest movies. The film opened with $264.1 million worldwide, the largest global debut of Nolan’s career, and earned another $90 million domestically during its second weekend. By its 12th day in theaters, it had generated $727.9 million worldwide.

All that attention has also sent viewers toward a much older, looser interpretation of Homer’s Iliad.

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Clips from Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 film have been circulating across social media. Viewers are comparing the movies’ battle scenes, costumes, performances, and versions of the fall of Troy. Some have gone further, arguing that the critically dismissed Brad Pitt blockbuster may actually be the better movie.

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The renewed attention is showing up beyond social media. As of July 23, Troy ranked 12th on IMDb’s list of most popular movies and 23rd on Letterboxd, while The Odyssey held the top position on both. By the end of the month, Troy had also climbed to No. 2 on AMC+ in the United States.

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Suddenly, a movie once remembered primarily for Pitt’s armor and extremely committed workout routine is receiving a full cultural re-evaluation.

Why Troy looks different in 2026

When Troy opened in 2004, Hollywood was still crowded with historical and fantasy epics. Gladiator had arrived 4 years earlier, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy had just demonstrated how emotionally and commercially successful a massive fantasy production could become.

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That competition made Troy feel less remarkable at the time. Petersen removed nearly all the gods and supernatural forces from Homer’s story and condensed years of mythology into one muscular, star-filled blockbuster.

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Critics were divided by the results. Troy currently holds a 53 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus describes it as an entertaining spectacle without enough emotional resonance. Audiences were warmer, giving it a 74 percent score.

22 years later, some of what once made Troy seem conventional has become the reason viewers are praising it. Compared with The Odyssey, fans say Troy better captures the sheer scale of the war. They have also singled out its radiant colors, weathered costumes, and supporting performances from Eric Bana and Peter O’Toole.

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Most of all, viewers keep returning to its action: the battles clearly show the tactics of two armies, while the duel between Achilles and Hector lets audiences follow every blow. Those qualities stand out even more when placed beside The Odyssey, according to fans.

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Of course, the two movies are trying to accomplish very different things. Troy is a war movie built around Achilles, Hector, and the destruction of a city. The Odyssey follows the exhausted soldier who has to live with what happened afterward.

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Still, watching them so close together has made viewers appreciate a movie has been overlooked for years.

Troy was always more popular than its reviews suggested

Despite its mixed reviews, Troy earned more than $497 million worldwide during its original theatrical run. Nearly three-quarters of that total came from international audiences.

The irony is that viewers now seem more eager to defend Troy than some of the people who made it.

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Pitt said he appeared in the movie because he had withdrawn from another Warner Bros. project and remained obligated to make something for the studio.

“I was put in Troy,” Pitt told The New York Times in 2019. He said the experience convinced him to begin following his instincts when selecting future roles.

Bloom was even less nostalgic about playing Paris. “I think I just blanked that movie out of my brain,” he told Variety in 2024, explaining that he never wanted to play the Trojan prince.

Christopher Nolan nearly made Troy himself

The most unexpected connection between the movies belongs to Nolan, actually. More than two decades before directing The Odyssey, he was originally hired by Warner Bros. to make Troy.

Petersen had begun developing the movie before leaving to work on a planned Batman vs. Superman project. When Warner Bros. abandoned that film, Petersen asked for Troy back. Nolan agreed, although he later told Empire that Homer’s world remained in the back of his mind. He was especially interested in how he would depict the Trojan horse.

Losing Troy worked out reasonably well for him. Nolan instead directed Batman Begins, which screenwriter David S. Goyer later jokingly described as Warner Bros.’ “consolation prize.” The movie launched Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and helped establish the blockbuster career that eventually allowed him to return to Homer on an even larger scale.

That history makes the current comparison feel almost too good to be true. Nolan finally got to create his version of Homer’s world. And though Odysseus needed 10 years to find his way home, Troy needed 22 to get its retrial.

The Moon is still in its waning gibbous phase following the Full Moon. Here’s what you can see on its surface tonight.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Sunday, Aug. 2, NASA’s Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Waning Gibbous phase, with 87% of its surface visible.

You don’t need to have lots of visual equipment to see features on the Moon’s surface. In fact, with just your naked eye you can spot the Oceanus Procellarum, Kepler Crater, and Mare Vaporum tonight. However, visual aids do make the experience more advanced, so if you have a pair of binoculars, this will help you see the Alphonsus Crater, Mare Humorum, and the Mare Frigoris. Pull out your telescope (if you have one) to see see all clearer, plus the Apollo 15 landing spot, the Rima Ariadaeus, and the Schiller Crater.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on August 28.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the Moon goes through a complete cycle of eight phases roughly every 29.5 days. As it travels around Earth, the angle between the Sun, Earth and Moon constantly changes, meaning we see different amounts of the Moon’s sunlit side. This is what causes the familiar progression from a thin crescent to a half Moon, then a Full Moon, before the cycle repeats.

The eight phases are:

New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

TL;DR: Get the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 (256GB, unlocked) for $1,199.99 at Amazon and a free $200 gift card bundled in — no trade-in required.

Samsung didn’t ease into its Unpacked event — phones, watches, and smartglasses were all unveiled in one go, which means there’s a lot to sort through if you’re trying to find the one deal that’s actually worth your money.

And here’s one worth grabbing: Amazon is currently bundling the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 with a free $200 gift card — no trade-in, no discount code, just the phone at $1,199.99 with a $200 gift card to use later.

The whole point of a flip phone is the cover screen, and Samsung’s built around that here — FlexWindow lets you handle a range of AI tasks without opening the phone, so quick checks don’t require unfolding it. When you’re shooting photos, you can go hands-free for creative angles, or hold it steady and rely on Super Steady Video to keep the footage smooth.

The Flip 8 runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the same chip powering the Fold8, which means gaming and multitasking should hold up even on this smaller form factor.

Battery life is built to last through a full day, and when it runs low, Super Fast Charging gets you back up quickly. If you’re switching from an iPhone, Samsung’s made that transfer easier, too — your photos, contacts, alarms, and passwords come with you, and your messages stay encrypted the whole way.

The gift card isn’t an instant perk, though — Samsung sends an email once it’s ready to claim, and that only happens after the phone ships. The offer ends Aug. 6, so the earlier you pre-order, the safer you are before that window shuts.

Grab the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 before Aug. 6, and the $200 gift card is on its way to you.