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Image: 20th Century Fox

Matt Damon has led one of the biggest movies of the summer in The Odyssey, playing the legendary Greek king Odysseus as he battles monsters, gods, storms, and seemingly everything else the ancient world can throw at him just to return home to his wife. Christopher Nolan's epic has earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide, putting it among 2026's biggest movies and on the summer blockbuster podium alongside Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The Odyssey may be one of the oldest stories ever told, but Hollywood has spent decades returning to a strangely familiar plot of its own: getting Matt Damon home. He's been a stranded soldier whose rescue sends Tom Hanks and his squad across occupied France in Saving Private Ryan, a young cowboy searching for a new life south of the border in All the Pretty Horses, and an astronaut marooned on a distant planet in Interstellar. At this point, putting Damon somewhere impossibly far away and asking how he'll make it back is practically its own subgenre. And one of the best examples is suddenly getting serious attention again.

Ridley Scott's The Martian, adapted from Andy Weir's bestselling novel, has climbed to No. 4 on Apple TV's U.S. movie chart, according to FlixPatrol, after recently joining the platform's streaming lineup. If The Odyssey has you in the mood for another very different Matt Damon journey, it's an easy follow-up — and a timely one, too, with Weir's Project Hail Mary also making the jump to the big screen.

The Martian is still one of Matt Damon's best sci-fi movies

The Martian stars Damon as Mark Watney, a NASA astronaut who is left behind on Mars after his crew believes he has been killed during a violent storm. Watney survives, but he's stranded alone with limited supplies and no immediate way to contact Earth.

That leaves him with one option: figure it out. Watney uses his background as a botanist and engineer to grow food, stretch his resources, and eventually establish contact with NASA, turning what initially looks like a hopeless survival story into a massive effort to bring one man home from another planet.

Photo: 20th Century Fox

Damon is backed up by an admittedly stacked cast. Jessica Chastain plays Ares III commander Melissa Lewis, Chiwetel Ejiofor is NASA mission director Vincent Kapoor, and Sebastian Stan plays flight surgeon and astronaut Chris Beck. The ensemble also includes Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Mackenzie Davis, Jeff Daniels, and Donald Glover.

The movie was a major hit when it arrived in 2015, earning roughly $630 million worldwide and picking up seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Damon. It also remains one of Scott's best-reviewed movies, with a 91% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

What's next for Matt Damon?

Image: Universal

Damon isn't done with big genre movies. He's set to star in the mysterious next film from Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, an ambitious sci-fi project Damon has described as a collision of The Breakfast Club, Inception, anime, and Last Week Tonight. The movie is currently lined up for 2027.

He'll also reunite with Ben Affleck for Animals, an upcoming Netflix crime thriller directed by Affleck. If you can't wait, a couple of Damon's other recent streaming hits are already available. The Rip, his crime thriller with Affleck about Miami cops who discover millions in a stash house, is streaming on Netflix, while sci-fi fans can also check out Elysium, Neill Blomkamp's dystopian action movie about a desperate man trying to reach an orbital sanctuary reserved for the ultra-rich.