If you’ve spent any time online lately (or, frankly, if you’ve been a person who lives in the world), you’ve probably heard some version of: “There’s this new Christopher Nolan movie that’s supposed to be crazy. We should go see it.”

Despite a cast that includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o and Robert Pattinson, this is how “The Odyssey” is being marketed: Christopher Nolan’s latest film.

As superhero franchises lose some of their box office dominance and Hollywood worries about the next generation of movie stars, a different kind of star has emerged: the director.

Christopher Nolan gets more cigarette butts in seats than almost any movie star

There is perhaps no other director alive at Nolan’s level right now. He hasn’t directed a film that has grossed less than $550 million since 2006, if you exclude “Tenet,” which was released during the COVID-19 pandemic and still grossed a respectable $366 million.

“The Odyssey” has grossed $639 million since its July 17 release (although some of those IMAX tickets had already been sold a year in advance), and resellers are selling tickets for $600, unprecedented figures for an R-rated movie without superheroes.

Nolan, recently ranked by Vulture as the most powerful director in Hollywood, is a franchise unto himself. His films promise spectacle: impressive action, meticulous images, beautiful music, booming sound and big ideas. And while its casts are large, its stars aren’t always reliable box-office draws.

Consider Matthew McConaughey: “Interstellar,” released at the height of “McConaissance,” grossed $774 million, but McConaughey hasn’t come close to reaching that level of box office success since.

Similarly, Matt Damon, the star of “The Odyssey,” last led a blockbuster blockbuster more than a decade ago with “The Martian.” He’s been working at a good pace since then, but nothing has reached the levels of “The Odyssey” or his last collaboration with Nolan, “Oppenheimer.”

In fact, let’s talk about “Oppenheimer” or, should we say, “Barbenheimer.”

‘Barbenheimer’ was a phenomenon driven by two box office hits from the director

In July 2023, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” was released on the same day as Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” creating the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon.

Gerwig’s three solo directorial efforts (“Lady Bird,” “Little Women” and “Barbie”) each grossed more than the last, culminating with “Barbie” grossing $1.4 billion.

As much as “Barbie” was directed by its star, Margot Robbie, the film was also marketed as a Gerwig film. And like Damon and McConaughey, Robbie hadn’t been a reliable box-office draw before “Barbie.” His two previous films, “Babylon” and “Amsterdam,” were considered catastrophic failures.

“Oppenheimer,” a three-hour R-rated epic about the man who created the atomic bomb, grossed an equally impressive $975 million.

Instead of starring a proven star, it was directed by Cillian Murphy, best known for his smaller roles in the Nolan films and the TV series “Peaky Blinders.” Instead, it sold primarily on Nolan’s penchant for spectacle.

Both films would be nominated for best picture at the 2024 Academy Awards, with “Oppenheimer” winning.

They join directors such as Ryan Coogler, Paul Thomas Anderson and Jordan Peele, who are passionate about the theatrical experience.

Remember this promotional video Coogler shared before the release of “Sinners”?

Arguably, nothing did more to build enthusiasm for “Sinners” than Coogler’s impassioned argument for seeing the film in IMAX. (In fact, his name has become so closely associated with filmmaking that Marvel’s announcement that its “Black Panther 3” will be filmed on large-format celluloid, a first for the studio, was met with loud applause instead of blank stares.)

Commentators said the clip inspired them to buy premium format tickets, and the film grossed $370 million, an impressive feat for an original R-rated horror film set in 1930s Mississippi.

Similarly, Paul Thomas Anderson emphasized his VistaVision format while promoting “One Battle After Another”, which became his highest-grossing film with $231 million. It also earned him his first Academy Award for Best Director and won Best Picture.

We could go on about how Gerwig convinced Netflix to put her next movie, a reboot of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” in theaters for an unprecedented 48 days, or how Jordan Peele got “Nope” to gross $171 million, or how 21-year-old Kane Parsons’ vision for “Backrooms” led to the movie grossing $387 million, but you get the idea.

The public has responded and studios should take note

In 12 days, “The Odyssey” grossed $286 million domestically, more than double the worldwide total raised by “Supergirl” and surpassing the entire domestic gross of “Thunderbolts.”

The superhero movie isn’t over, but it can no longer be assumed that they will dominate the year-end box office charts.

Additionally, apps like Letterboxd and movie podcasts including “Blank Check” and “The Big Picture” have helped make directors, arthouse cinema and originality a bigger part of mainstream film culture.

Studios can no longer put familiar intellectual property on the big screen and expect audiences to eat it up. The success of Nolan, Gerwig, Coogler, Peele and others suggests that they need to invest in filmmakers and their visions, and market what differentiates them from their peers.

The movie star is not dead; He’s just not an actor anymore.