On July 20, the End Wokeness X account shared screenshots of 5-star reviews of The Odyssey on Rotten Tomatoes and claimed they were AI-generated. One of them from user Cesar C read,
“An absolute cinematic masterpiece.”
Another with the username Rich wrote,
“Worth every penny, will be seeing again.”
End Wokeness hinted all the positive reviews were bots and not humans and wrote in the caption:
“I went to check out the recent reviews of the Odyssey on Rotten Tomatoes. Do these sound like humans to you?”
Many joined the conversation and shared similar views.
“My female intuition tells me all the wonderful reviews for that movie are bogus bullsh*t,” a netizen wrote.
“Something rotten seems to be happening inside Rotten Tomatoes,” an individual quipped.
“The only reviews I ever look at are the negative ones; it’s the only way to know it’s not a bot or paid review,” another user wrote.
Meanwhile, others defended the Rotten Tomatoes 5-star reviews of the new Christopher Nolan movie.
“Apart from some of the woke scenes, the movie is good. I don’t wanna spoil it for anyone, but the movie is worth watching,” a person commented.
“Yes, they do. Not sure why you are on this massive anti-The Odyssey tirade. It was a good film,” a fellow user wrote.
“The fact that you are this obsessed with this is pretty sad. It is an excellent movie,” another fan criticized End Wokeness.
It is noteworthy that the current reviews in the “All audience” section of Rotten Tomatoes are all negative, specifically half stars. Amid this, claims are circulating that if bots are used to create positive reviews, they can also be used to trigger negative ones. Here’s a glimpse at the half-star reviews:
“The movie was boring. There should have been better pacing. The dialogue was not good. I wish I didn’t waste my time,” an alleged viewer wrote.
Another one echoed a similar sentiment:
“Disappointed with the casting, writing, and pacing of this movie. Highly Overrated!!”
Exploring other controversies surrounding The Odyssey
There is a “Verified audience” section on Rotten Tomatoes, which has reviews from repeat raters. It shows mostly positive reviews for The Odyssey. For instance, Nick J wrote 11 hours ago:
“Everything you want it to be.”
Meanwhile, David gave it 4.5/ 5 stars and wrote:
“Great Movie. Don’t Listen to the Podcasters. They Don’t Read Great Literature. Let Alone Know What Mythology Or Adaptation Means. Watch And Enjoy. Dislike The Pacing. But Overall, A Great Movie.”
Meanwhile, subreddit and X users are claiming that the 97 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes is fake and JSON Data reveals it is actually 56 percent. In fact, X influencer @ObviousRises is claiming:
“A user HACKED Rotten Tomatoes on the asmongold subreddit (parsed the JSON data) and found the REAL REVIEW SCORE for Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey and discovered that out of 886 active users only 498 rated it positively, leaving the true score around: 56.2%.”
The individual continued:
“A score of 97% is mathematically impossible (combined with faked ticket sales) and this is looking more and more like widespread FRAUD by the Hollywood Industry on a MASSIVE scale. Interestingly enough, 56.2% is not far off from the Metacritic data, which has normal reviewers (non- critics/bots) who rate the film at 51%.”
Notably, viewers around the world, especially in the United States, have been complaining online that they are having a hard time buying tickets as theaters are often showing houseful and/or ending up with bad/ front seats, only to realize that half the auditorium is empty.
While there are no verified sources to support these allegations, social media users have accused The Odyssey team of faking ticket sales to make it “look like a success.”
While Rotten Tomatoes is primarily facing backlash for putting up with the so-called bot-generated reviews of The Odyssey, IMDb and Letterboxd are also facing similar accusations, although rare. The former currently shows an 8.4/10 rating from 142K users, while the latter has a 4.3/5 rating from 27K users.
According to Deadline, The Odyssey is dominating at the box office following its July 17 global release. In fact, it was eyeing $17.5 million in revenue from its July 20 shows alone in the USA and Canada, superseding Toy Story 5’s $17.3 million on the opening Monday.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu was the highest-grossing live-action movie in 2026 and earned $16.4 million on Memorial Day Monday. The Odyssey’s numbers have also surpassed it. Deadline reports indicate:
“Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic poem stands at $141M domestic, 48% higher than 2023’s Oppenheimer over its Friday-Monday; that multi-Oscar-winning movie ended its North American run at $330M.”
It continues:
“The Odyssey’s 3-day came in slightly lower (but still holding the record for the best live-action pic opening this year for North America) at $123.5M, versus the reported $124.5M. International was higher at $140.2M, versus the reported $139.6M, putting the global debut at $263.7M, still the best that Nolan has seen in his career…”
The publication further noted:
“Among Nolan movies on a Monday, The Odyssey ranks third behind The Dark Knight ($24.4M, July 21, 2008) and The Dark Knight Rises ($19.3M, July 23, 2012). Oppenheimer’s first Monday minted $12.67M.”
The Odyssey has been earning mixed early reviews. Audiences have called it “polarizing” and “overrated,” stirring a debate on casting, storytelling, pacing, and dialogue. Meanwhile, another section is praising the movie for its visual effects, especially in IMAX, with the word “masterpiece” being thrown around.
Edited by Pallavi K