Grok has released the first seven minutes of its AI-generated movie based on “The Odyssey,” billed as the opening episode of an Odyssey series. The clip was made with Grok Imagine in collaboration with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker, and Grok published it while inviting viewers to request a breakdown of how it was produced. The release follows Elon Musk’s declaration three months earlier that Grok would put out a full-length, historically accurate film version of the epic.
Musk had criticized Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” over its casting of nonwhite and transgender actors. The contrast between the two figures extends beyond the film: Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, promotes space data centers and regularly posts AI-generated content, while Nolan has called himself a techno-skeptic and said that before AI he had never seen a technology so thoroughly rejected by the public. The two versions also differ sharply in production method.
Nolan’s film relied heavily on visual effects but was primarily a practical production, shot across six countries with a cast and crew numbering in the thousands. Released in July, it became a major box office success, sold out Imax screenings for months and is seen as the likely front-runner at the next Academy Awards. Grok’s version arrives as a short, synthetic installment rather than a feature.
In the Grok footage, the narrator speaks with a British accent, and the characters appear to share a skin tone consistent with Musk’s stated preferences, though the clip’s historical accuracy could not be assessed. The reviewer found the video less visually jarring than expected and more accomplished than other recent Musk posts, with isolated moments that could pass for real actors at sea. What the episode lacks, in that assessment, is artistry or human interest.
The backstory, carried by voiceover, runs long before giving way to a succession of bearded characters delivering stilted lines. Individual shots can resemble reality, but the whole production feels airless, with no momentum and no reason to invest in anyone on screen. The reviewer noted checking how much time remained before the episode was halfway done, despite having watched Nolan’s nearly three-hour film without difficulty, and found it hard to imagine sitting through another seven minutes, let alone a full movie.
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