Universal Pictures
Viking ship in The Odyssey movie
The Odyssey is well on its way to being one of the highest-grossing movies of the year after raking in more than $300 million at the box office within the first week of its release. However, the owner of a Viking ship that was used during filming has been left on the hook for a repair bill that is an incredibly tiny fraction of that sum.
It seemed safe to assume Christopher Nolan was going to have a hit on his hands after he recruited a star-studded cast of actors including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, and Anne Hathaway (among many other notable names) for his interpretation of The Odyssey.
That ended up being the case, as the project was greeted by near-universal praise ahead of an opening weekend where it netted $124 million at the domestic box office and $264 million worldwide. It does have some work to do to recoup a production and marketing budget that reportedly amounted to around $375 million, but all signs point to Universal Pictures breaking even by next week.
$250 million of that sum was reserved for the filming of a movie that took some liberties when it came to historical accuracy (although I’d argue you’re allowed to be a bit liberal on that front when you’re dealing with a mythical saga overflowing with Greek gods and monsters).
That included the decision to opt for ships that would have been more at home in Scandinavia as opposed to the Mediterranean, including one that needed some repairs that the studio is apparently in no rush to cover.
A Viking center that provided a ship for the filming of The Odyssey says it’s still waiting to be compensated for a $6,000 repair bill
The Odyssey takes place in the Bronze Age, and as was the case in the movie, the ships the Greeks used to get from place to place relied on a hybrid approach of power generated by wind captured in sails as well as teams of oarsmen tasked with rowing.
If you’re not a maritime history nerd, you probably didn’t realize the ships that were used in the film were not accurate to the period but rather resembled the ones that were piloted by the Vikings, who did their thing close to 2,000 years after the story takes place.
That largely stemmed from the dearth of modern-day recreation of penteconter and other ships that were favored by the Ancient Greeks. There are, however, more than a few seaworthy Viking ships to be found, and Nolan viewed them as a suitable alternative capable of facilitating his desire to film on open water as opposed to a sound stage.
According to The New York Times, one of those ships was the Glad av Gillberga, a 60-foot vessel that was built in 1998 and has spent close to three decades ferrying visitors who make the trek to the Värmlands Viking Center, an educational attraction in Southwestern Sweden that revolves around a recreated Viking village.
Peter Olausson, who serves as the chairman for the center, told the outlet it was approached by a subsidiary of Universal in 2024 and agreed to lend the ship for the filming of a project that was known as “Charlie’s Tale,” which turned out to be a code name for The Odyssey.
The contract required the production company to pay to “replace or repair any injury” the boat sustained during filming, and Olausson said the Glad (which could be seen in scenes on the beaches near Troy and was seemingly part of Agamemnon’s departing armada) was returned with a cracked hull, damaged rigging, and enough wear and tear to merit a new paint job.
The center initially sent an invoice for $9,000 to cover the cost of materials (labor was done by volunteers), and while it dropped that number to $6,000 in the hopes of speeding up the payment process, Olausson said it is still waiting on the check to come through more than six months later.
He stressed he “loved” the movie but understandably felt the need to call attention to an issue that has also prevented the center from taking visitors out on the ship this summer, so here’s to hoping that particular odyssey also comes to an end now that he’s drawn attention to his plight in a public forum.