{"id":539356,"date":"2026-03-22T22:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539356\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:46:07","slug":"project-hail-mary-shatters-expectations-with-140-9-million-globally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/539356\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Project Hail Mary’ Shatters Expectations With $140.9 Million Globally"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAnd we have liftoff! \u201cProject Hail Mary<\/a>,\u201d a space-set epic starring Ryan Gosling as a science teacher who is tasked with saving the planet, rocketed to $140.9 million at the global box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose ticket sales include\u00a0$60.4 million from 82 international markets\u00a0as well as $80.5 million in North America. It\u2019s the largest debut of the year, ahead of \u201cScream 7\u201d with $33.1 million overseas and $97.2 million worldwide, as well as the biggest start ever for Amazon MGM, above 2023\u2019s \u201cCreed III\u201d with $41.8 million overseas and $100.4 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tPhil Lord and Christopher Miller, best known for \u201c21 Jump Street\u201d and \u201cThe Lego Movie,\u201d directed the $200 million-budgeted film, which follows a former molecular biologist who unwittingly embarks on an intergalactic mission to salvage the world from extinction. The story is adapted from the best-selling novel by author Andy Weir, whose other astronaut adventure \u201cThe Martian\u201d was the basis for Ridley Scott\u2019s 2015 blockbuster, starring Matt Damon. That film ignited to $54 million domestically and ended its box office run with a mighty $630 million globally, not adjusted for inflation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAndy Weir\u2019s beloved novel gave us a powerful foundation, and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have created a visually stunning, heart-gripping film led by the brilliant Ryan Gosling that demands to be experienced on the biggest screen possible\u2013together, with a crowd,\u201d said Amazon\u2019s distribution chief Kevin Wilson. \u201cWhen you combine that with the exceptional critical response and strong audience reactions, you tend to find yourself in rarefied air. And it leaves no doubt that Ryan Gosling is a singular star that has the massive global appeal and charisma to anchor a story like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d is shaping up to be the first commercial hit for Amazon MGM, which has spent lavishly\u00a0in its quest to become a major player in the movie business.\u00a0Nearly four\u00a0years after\u00a0acquiring MGM for\u00a0$8 billion<\/a>, Amazon\u00a0is\u00a0unveiling its first full theatrical slate in 2026, with 13\u00a0films on deck through December.\u00a0So far, this year has been rocky for the company with January\u2019s first lady doc \u201cMelania\u201d generating $16 million, impressive for the genre, but\u00a0tragic against a $40 million price tag and February\u2019s\u00a0R-rated caper \u201cCrime 101\u2033\u00a0grossing just $65 million against a $90 million budget. Up next is June\u2019s \u201cMasters of the Universe,\u201d a big-budget tentpole based on the popular Mattel toy He-Man.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe debut of \u2018Project Hail Mary\u2019 a testament to the power of Andy Weir\u2019s original novel and the efforts Lord and Miller made in being faithful with the adaptation,\u201d said analyst Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. \u201c[It\u2019s] arriving at a time when people are looking for escapism from the real world\u2019s dire headlines. This is the kind of rare breed movie that will continue drawing audiences in cinemas for weeks to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Amazon MGM, \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d ranks as the third non-sequel and non-franchise film to open above $50 million overseas since COVID, joining the ranks of \u201cOppenheimer\u201d and \u201cF1: The Movie.\u201d Top markets include the United Kingdom with $10.2 million, China with $7.1 million, Australia with $5 million and South Korea with $4.3 million. Premium screens contributed to the larger-than-expected global tally; Imax alone represented $27.6 million in worldwide ticket sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2019Project Hail Mary\u2019 is an excellent film for which Amazon MGM ran a brilliant campaign, leaning heavily on the power of Imax as a global launch platform across production, marketing, and distribution,\u201d said Imax\u2019s CEO Rich Gelfond. \u201cGoing back decades to some of our earliest documentaries, there is an enduring connection between Imax and space, and this film\u2019s stunning depiction of the cosmos stands among the best \u2014 it truly demands to be experienced in Imax.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother new release, Disney and Searchlight\u2019s horror sequel \u201cReady or Not 2: Here I Come,\u201d started slow with $2.8 million from 21 territories. The film opened to $9.1 million domestically for a global tally of $11.9 million against a nearly $20 million budget. Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton star in the movie as sisters who attempt to survive another diabolical game of hide-and-seek. It\u2019s the follow-up to 2019\u2019s \u201cReady or Not,\u201d which was a modest success with $57 million globally.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere at the international box office, Disney\u2019s Pixar adventure \u201cHoppers\u201d added $34.2 million from 51 markets in its third weekend of release. So far, the kids film has grossed $122 million overseas and $242 million worldwide. With solid week-to-week holds, \u201cHoppers\u201d is on its way to being Pixar\u2019s first original hit since 2017\u2019s \u201cCoco.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And we have liftoff! \u201cProject Hail Mary,\u201d a space-set epic starring Ryan Gosling as a science teacher who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,155909],"class_list":{"0":"post-539356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-project-hail-mary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}