Interest in learning Greek has surged in Britain following the release of director Christopher Nolan’s film “The Odyssey”, with a language trends specialist reporting a 5,000 percent increase in people wanting to learn the language.

The specialist said the film had created a spark that “may lead to a deeper understanding of Greece’s linguistic and cultural heritage“.

“Ancient Greek offers the opportunity to come into closer contact with Homer’s original text and the wider classical world, while Modern Greek can help people connect with contemporary Greek culture and communicate with speakers of the language today,” they said.

Sales of printed copies of “The Odyssey” have risen by 70 percent compared with last year, with 35,000 more copies sold in Britain this year than in 2025, when only 5,000 were sold.

While many were enthusiastic about the film before its release, scholars quickly turned critical of Nolan once the first images and trailers emerged.

They were disappointed by production details such as the costume design and the use of modern English, including the fact that male characters in the film wear trousers rather than skirts, as well as the use of the word “dad” instead of “father”.

Nolan himself told Time magazine that he wrote an alternative ending for Homer’s poem in the film, as the original is “so bleak and so misogynistic. I had to exclude some of that material,” he said. “But I didn’t want to remove it from the context entirely, in terms of the message it conveys about men and the way they wage war.”

Defy the Gods. Watch the New Trailer for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and experience the film in theaters 7 17 26. pic.twitter.com/Ve6wUGxw3P

— The Odyssey Movie (@odysseymovie) May 5, 2026