The Odyssey: How Matt Damon accidentally became Hollywood's most expensive rescue mission

The Odyssey, which is gearing up for a grand release on July 17, 2026 has once again sparked conversation around the viral saying "get Matt Damon home." For people who spend quality time on social media probably understand the meaning of this joke and how "Hollywood continues to spend millions of dollars" to accomplish this one mission.

While it started after fans began noticing a similarity in his movies, gradually the joke transformed into a popular meme. Every few years, an elaborate rescue mission is launched in Hollywood as Damon's character is either stranded, missing, isolated, or desperately trying to return home. The latest is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, where the actor takes on the role of Greek king Odysseus, whose entire story revolves around an arduous journey back to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

For the unversed, the joke is not based on a single film. In several productions, his characters become the focus of an expensive rescue mission or an extraordinary journey to make it back home. Several posts on social media can also be found claiming that Hollywood has allegedly spent "over $600 million" trying to rescue Damon. While the figure is an exaggeration, the recurring pattern in Damon's filmography has become impossible for moviegoers to ignore. Here's a list of films that made the meme famous.

The journey began with his 1998 film created by Steven Spielberg. The popular World War II drama revolves around Private James Ryan, played by Damon, whose three brothers have all died during the war, and the US Army sends Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and a squad into occupied France to locate Ryan and bring him home.

Next is the 2014 film directed by Christopher Nolan. In the sci-fi epic, Damon features as Dr. Mann, a scientist believed to have discovered a potentially habitable planet. The Endurance crew travels across the galaxy hoping to find him and secure humanity's future. Although rescuing him isn't the movie's main focus, the film is still on the list.

In 2015 came Ridley Scott's The Martian, which made the joke popular. Damon stars as astronaut and botanist Mark Watney, who is mistakenly presumed dead after a violent storm on Mars. He is left completely alone on the Red Planet, and later, NASA and his crewmates devise a plan to bring him back to Earth.

The next is Nolan's The Odyssey, which once again focuses on the return of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, through encounters with mythical creatures, angry gods and other obstacles. During a recent appearance on Jake's Takes, Matt Damon laughed at the viral meme and stated that he hadn't thought about the pattern while signing on for The Odyssey. "No, I didn't. I was so excited. I didn't even think about that until the meme started again," he said. "I keep adding a movie where I'm trying to get home, and so then the meme restarts again." When the host suggested that even Dogma could be counted among his "getting home" films, Damon agreed, joking that the list has only continued to grow over the years.