Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' sends Homer sales soaring 600% in Korea

From left, filmmaker Christopher Nolan, actors Matt Damon and Charlize Theron, and producer Emma Thomas attend a press conference for their movie "The Odyssey" at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Christopher Nolan’s film “The Odyssey” is sending Korean readers back to Homer, driving a sharp surge in sales of the ancient epic and related titles ahead of the movie’s local release on Wednesday.

According to Kyobo Book Centre, sales of books with “Odyssey” in their titles — including various Korean spellings of the classic — have climbed steeply this year as the film’s opening approaches.

Compared with the same months a year earlier, sales were up 52.9 percent in March, 87.5 percent in April, 194 percent in May and 291.7 percent in June. In July, they jumped 595.5 percent year-on-year, nearly sevenfold, signaling that anticipation for the film is spurring renewed interest in Homer’s classic.

The best-selling title in Kyobo so far this year is “The Odyssey,” a complete Korean translation of the original Greek published by Hyundae Jisung.

The bookstore noted that sales have been “evenly distributed” across full translations and introductory guides to the text, suggesting that the boom is not limited to seasoned classics readers but is drawing newcomers as well.

The bookstore also noted middle-aged readers are leading the trend. Those in their 40s accounted for 25.7 percent of buyers of Odyssey-related books, followed by readers in their 50s at 23.6 percent, 30s at 22.1 percent, 20s at 15.4 percent and 60 or older at 12 percent.

Kyobo added that interest is likely to grow further with the official screenplay of Nolan’s “The Odyssey” set for publication in Korea on Aug. 19.