Musk's anti-Odyssey campaign backfires over threat to make AI version of epic

Elon Musk, owner of X, announced that his AI tool Grok Imagine will produce a full-length movie of Homer's The Odyssey by the end of 2026, claiming it will be historically accurate and true to the original poem. The announcement follows Musk's failed campaign against Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which became a box office hit despite Musk's criticism of its diverse casting. Critics note that Homer's work is fiction and cannot be historically accurate, and an AI-generated version already exists online.

Elon Musk's anti-Odyssey campaign has gone to the next level, as the X owner has vowed that his AI social media bot, Grok, will make “a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer”. ETA: "Before this year ends." Elon Musk is proving he's a sore loser. After spending months railing against Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/07/16/euronews-cultures-film-of-the-week-the-odyssey-an-epic-but-flawed-trip-to-hades-and-back with , predicting that its diverse casting would lead to the film's "go woke, go broke" failure, the tech mogul has been proven rather spectacularly wrong. https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/02/02/why-is-elon-musk-taking-aim-at-christopher-nolans-casting-decisions-for-the-odyssey racist outbursts Reviews have been glowing largely https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/07/20/from-following-to-the-odyssey-all-christopher-nolan-movies-ranked-from-weakest-to-stronges , and the global box office numbers don't lie: The Odyssey is a barn-storming success and after less than a week since its release. https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/07/20/the-odyssey-makes-history-at-global-box-office-for-christopher-nolan one of the biggest hits of 2026 Clearly not taking the news well, Musk wrote on X that he was "down" to give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation "with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek." He then followed that post with an announcement that his AI tool Grok Imagine would make a “historically accurate” full-length feature version of Homer’s ancient Greek poem, adding that his AI version of "The Odyssey" would be ready by the end of 2026. “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” he posted, together with an AI-generated 3-minute short of “The Odyssey” posted by an X user. Where to begin? Beyond the fact that Musk has wasted his time frothing up the outrage of right-wing culture warriors by hatefully slamming the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/05/22/a-mythological-story-lupita-nyongo-responds-to-racist-backlash-over-the-odyssey-role , making pathetic transphobic jokes at the expense of trans actor Elliot Page who plays Sinon in The Odyssey and bafflingly calling director Christopher Nolan an "anti-White racist", the trillionaire has clearly failed to understand three main things. Homer’s 2,800-year-old “The Odyssey” is a work of FICTION and therefore cannot be “historically accurate”. The presence of sirens, a cyclops and a witch who turns warriors into pigs was a bit of a giveaway. Lesson: Do your homework. Deepening one's beef against Christopher Nolan just looks desperate. All the manufactured outrage in the world didn’t hinder Nolan’s film from becoming a critical darling and a box office behemoth. Lesson: Misinformation and hatred spreading across X doesn't affect artistic appreciation. Know when you’re beaten. He’s already been pipped to the post, as and has been destroyed online as something no one wants to watch. Lesson: You're late. an AI slop version of "The Odyssey" is already on the way The reactions online to Musk's Grok project have been far from positive, with X users either calling him a "moron" or a "cyclops truther". Check out some of the reactions below: Then again, a Grok retelling would only make Nolan’s movie look even more of a meticulously made and human epic... So maybe we shouldn't be too discouraging of the man who thinks people want to live on Mars. Go to accessibility shortcuts accessibility-bar menu