The Reading / Listening - 'The Odyssey' - Level 0

The movie 'The Odyssey' has broken cinema records. The film made $290,000 from just one London cinema. The movie is doing well in the US. It had the biggest opening weekend of the year for a non-animated film. The world's largest cinema group showed the movie at 2 am and 3 am in some cities. Almost all tickets were sold.

'The Odyssey' is an action fantasy film. It is based on a 2,700-year-old poem by the Greek poet Homer. It is about a king called Odysseus. He goes on a ten-year journey to get home after the Trojan War. He meets many strange people. The movie's director got a lot of praise. He took an old story and made it modern.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    'The Odyssey' - Level 1 'The Odyssey' - Level 2   or  'The Odyssey' - Level 3

Sources
  • https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/the-odyssey-uk-ireland-box-office-1236816591/
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/19/business/media/the-odyssey-box-office-christopher-nolan.html
  • https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/20/the-odyssey-box-office


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. The film
  2. The movie is doing
  3. the biggest opening weekend
  4. a non-animated
  5. The world's largest cinema
  6. showed the movie
  7. in some
  8. Almost all tickets
  1. at 2 am
  2. film
  3. made $290,000
  4. were sold
  5. of the year
  6. cities
  7. group
  8. well in the US

Paragraph 2

  1. 'The Odyssey' is an action
  2. It is based on a 2,700-year-
  3. It is about a king
  4. He goes on a ten-year
  5. get home after the
  6. He meets many strange
  7. The movie's
  8. He took an old story and
  1. journey
  2. called Odysseus
  3. Trojan War
  4. made it modern
  5. fantasy film
  6. director
  7. old poem
  8. people

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

The movie 'The Odyssey' (1) _________________________________________________ records. The film made $290,000 (2) _________________________________________________ London cinema. The movie is (3) _________________________________________________ the US. It had the biggest (4) _________________________________________________ the year for a non-animated film. The world's (5) _________________________________________________ showed the movie at 2 am and 3 am in some cities. Almost all (6) _________________________________________________.

'The Odyssey' (7) _________________________________________________ fantasy film. It is based on a 2,700-year-old (8) _________________________________________________ Greek poet Homer. It is (9) _________________________________________________ called Odysseus. He goes on a ten-year journey to (10) _________________________________________________ the Trojan War. He (11) _________________________________________________ people. The movie's director got a lot of praise. He took an old story and (12) _________________________________________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Themovie'TheOdyssey'hasbrokencinemarecords.Thefilmmade$29
0,000fromjustoneLondoncinema.ThemovieisdoingwellintheUS.Itha
dthebiggestopeningweekendoftheyearforanon-animatedfilm.Thew
orld'slargestcinemagroupshowedthemovieat2amand3aminsomecit
ies.Almostallticketsweresold.'TheOdyssey'isanactionfantasyfilm.Iti
sbasedona2,700-year-oldpoembytheGreekpoetHomer.Itisaboutak
ingcalledOdysseus.Hegoesonaten-yearjourneytogethomeaftertheT
rojanWar.Hemeetsmanystrangepeople.Themovie'sdirectorgotaloto
fpraise.Hetookanoldstoryandmadeitmodern.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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_____________________________________________________________________________

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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