Grok drops 7-minute AI 'Odyssey' to tepid reviews
Original: Grok releases the first seven minutes of its AI-generated ‘Odyssey’
Why This Matters
AI-generated long-form film is arriving, but quality gaps vs. practical filmmaking remain stark.
Grok and Wonder Studios released the first seven minutes of an AI-generated 'Odyssey' film on Oct. 23, 2026, three months after Elon Musk promised a full-length, historically accurate version in response to Christopher Nolan's hit adaptation.
Three months after Elon Musk publicly criticized Christopher Nolan's 'Odyssey' for its casting of nonwhite and transgender actors, Grok has delivered its rebuttal: seven minutes of AI-generated footage, now reframed as 'Episode 1 of our Odyssey series.' The project was created in collaboration with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker.
The timing is pointed. Nolan's version, released in July, became a massive box office hit — selling out Imax screenings for months and emerging as a front-runner for the next Academy Awards. It was filmed across six countries with thousands of cast and crew.
TechCrunch's Anthony Ha found the Grok footage 'not as spectacularly ugly' as expected, noting occasional shots that could pass for live-action. But the overall verdict was harsh: stilted dialogue, no narrative momentum, and characters that blend into one another. 'The whole thing feels completely airless,' Ha wrote, adding that he had no trouble sitting through Nolan's nearly three-hour film but was 'listlessly checking' the runtime before Grok's clip was half done. All characters appear in what Ha called 'Musk-approved skin color,' with a generic British fantasy-narrator voiceover.