Book sales related to 'The Odyssey' jump sevenfold ahead of Nolan's film release

Sales of books related to “The Odyssey” are surging in Korea as Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the epic is set to premiere in the country on Wednesday.

Kyobo Book Centre said on Monday that it analyzed sales of books with “Odyssey” in their titles, including variant Korean spellings, and found that sales in July rose 595.5 percent from the same month last year — nearly a sevenfold increase.

Sales rose more sharply as the film’s release date approached. The on-year monthly growth rate climbed from 55.3 percent in January to 87.5 percent in April, 194 percent in May and 291.7 percent last month.

Readers in their 40s accounted for the largest share of buyers at 25.7 percent, followed by those in their 50s at 23.6 percent, 30s at 22.1 percent, 20s at 15.4 percent and 60 or older at 12 percent. Readers in their 30s through 50s comprised 71.4 percent of all buyers.

Women accounted for 50.7 percent and men 49.3 percent, showing little difference between the sexes.

Of all the books with “Odyssey” in their titles, the best-seller at Kyobo this year was “The Odyssey” (2025), translated by Park Mun-jae and published by Hyundae Jisung. The book is a complete Korean translation of Homer’s original work.

“Sales were evenly distributed across complete translations of and introductory guides […] to the original text, indicating growing interest in the myth itself,” Kyobo said. “Interest in related titles is expected to rise further, with the official screenplay for [Nolan’s] ‘The Odyssey’ scheduled to be published in Korea on Aug. 19.”

BY YOON SUNG-MIN [kim.hayoon1@joongang.co.kr]