Christopher Nolan’s "The Odyssey" is more than a billion-dollar film. It has become a cultural event, the sort of blockbuster that asks audiences to leave their homes, put down their individual screens and experience something together.
That is increasingly unusual.
Streaming has made entertainment abundant, immediate and intensely personal, while artificial intelligence is beginning to make the production and consumption of content even more personalised.
Yet the success of "The Odyssey" suggests audiences have not lost their appetite for spectacle, scarcity and the simple experience of being in a room with other people.
At its heart, Homer’s Greek epic "The Odyssey", written about 2,800 years ago, is a story about as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, on his perilous 10-year journey home after the Trojan war.
The latest blockbuster follows Matt Damon as the aforementioned hero making his journey home.
It is perhaps an unexpectedly resonant story for a culture increasingly preoccupied with loneliness and disconnection.
It has also made the film useful to another part of the digital economy. Cybercriminals are exploiting worldwide excitement surrounding Nolan’s new film, with experts identifying scam websites designed to lure movie fans with promises of free streaming access.
Global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, Kaspersky, said they had identified fraudulent websites operating in multiple languages, indicating that attackers are deliberately targeting audiences in different countries by capitalising on the film’s extraordinary popularity.
According to the cybersecurity experts, the worldwide interest in the film had also created an opportunity for cybercriminals seeking to lure users with false promises of free access.
The scam begins with websites offering users supposedly free access to the movie, according to the company. In an effort to make the sites appear legitimate, scammers may offer dubbed versions in the visitor’s native language, while displaying fake reviews and ratings attributed to users who supposedly have already watched the film.
When visitors attempt to play the movie, they are presented with a counterfeit video player and prompted to register to “continue to watch for free”. The registration process requests personal details such as an email address, first name and surname.
The fraudulent process can then escalate. Victims may be asked to create a password and provide banking information under the guise of activating a “free trial”. This can expose users to credential theft, particularly when passwords are reused across different services, as well as potential financial losses.
The websites reportedly reinforce the deception by promising unlimited access to content, claiming that registration takes about a minute and offering access across multiple devices.
The firm said the scammers are also using multiple languages to reach a wider international audience, while keeping the underlying fraudulent scheme largely unchanged.
Senior web content analyst at Kaspersky, Olga Altukhova, said scammers routinely sought to profit from high-profile premieres by exploiting the excitement of audiences eager to see major releases.
“Users should be particularly cautious if a film that has only just been released and is still showing in theatres suddenly appears on an unfamiliar or suspicious-looking platform.
“We strongly encourage people to access content only through official services in order to protect their personal data and avoid potential financial losses, and steer clear of what may turn out to be a Trojan horse,” said Altukhova.
The latest scam campaign highlights how major entertainment releases can become an effective vehicle for cybercrime, particularly when audiences are eager to find early or free access to highly anticipated films.
CEO of Avalon Group and CineCentre Cinemas, AB Moosa, said "The Odyssey" was a perfect example of what the cinema experience is all about.
He added that Christopher Nolan had created the film for the big screen and large format presentation, where the scale, sound and visual detail become part of the storytelling.
"We operate our own premium large screen format, Supernova, and this is exactly the type of film these cinemas are designed to showcase. Watching a film of this scale on a massive screen, with immersive sound and an audience around you, is a fundamentally different experience than watching it at home.
"But I don’t believe that only large scale films benefit from cinema. Cinema is fundamentally a shared experience. A comedy is funnier when hundreds of people laugh together, a thriller is more intense when an entire auditorium is silent, and a great drama can create a collective emotional response," said Moosa.
He said this is more important today than ever.
"We live in an increasingly digital and isolated world, where loneliness is often described as a new pandemic. Cinema is one of the few experiences where people still come together, put their individual screens away and share the same story, in the same space, at the same time. There is something incredibly powerful about that sense of human connection," he said.
Moosa said piracy has always been a challenge for the film industry, impacting the entire value chain, including filmmakers, distributors and cinema operators.
"In this particular case, there is also an important cybersecurity issue. The promise of watching a major film for 'free' can ultimately cost consumers far more. Fraudulent sites can exploit the excitement around major movie releases to steal personal information, login credentials or financial details, or expose users to malicious software.
"Beyond the issue of piracy itself, consumers need to be aware that these sites can carry very real risks that may not always be obvious," said Moosa.
"For cinemas, our focus is less on competing with piracy and more on continually giving audiences a compelling reason to go out to the movies. That means investing in better screens, sound, technology, comfort and experiences such as Supernova.
"Ultimately, cinema offers something that cannot simply be downloaded or replicated at home. It is not only about watching a movie; it is about experiencing it, on a big screen, with great sound and, importantly, with other people," said Moosa.
At a moment when technology is making entertainment more abundant and personalised, "The Odyssey" may be revealing a countervailing desire: not simply to consume culture, but to experience it together. The scams exploit the demand for instant access.
The cinema is betting that, in an increasingly mediated world, people will still value something technology cannot easily reproduce: being somewhere, with other people, and watching the same story unfold.
taschica.pillay@nationalmg.co.za