It’s only March, but we already have a viable contender for this year’s big box office hit. Ryan Gosling’s highly anticipated movie, Project Hail Mary, opened this past weekend to an impressive $80.6 million domestically and almost $141 million worldwide. PHM is based on a book by Andy Weir, who also wrote the novel that the The Martian with Matt Damon was based on. Project Hail Mary’s impressive box office debut set a domestic box office record. It’s now in second place for a domestic opening weekend by a non-franchise movie after Oppenheimer.
Amazon MGM Studios‘ Project Hail Mary had a blessed Saturday chalking up $27.1M, just -18% off Friday/preview’s $33.1M which rockets this Ryan Gosling starring, Lord & Miller directed production to a magnificent $80.6M. Worldwide opening is a fantastic near $141M which is the best for an MPA title so far this year.
While that’s the second-best domestic start for a non-franchise movie after Oppenheimer ($82.4M), it’s the best opening for a non-franchise movie in March (ahead of Jordan Peele’s Us ($71M). Interesting enough, the trajectory for Project Hail Mary is very similar to Oppenheimer which posted Friday/previews of $33M but dipped -21% on Saturday with $26.2M. Oppenheimer‘s Sunday was $23.1M. If Project Hail Mary is north of that, it will be the best start for a non-franchise movie at the domestic B.O. Currently, the Amy Pascal, Rachel O’Connor, Andy Weir, Aditya Sood produced movie is eyeing $20.3M today.
Also, interesting to note that Oppenheimer was R whereas Project Hail Mary was PG-13. In pre-sales Project Hail Mary did look like Oppenheimer. But it wasn’t keen to call it as such. That’s because Oppenheimer was in rarefied air with the whole Barbenheimer of it all. Sans Barbie, it could be argued that Oppenheimer opens to $60M.
Project Hail Mary is also the best domestic opening ever for an Amazon MGM Studios movie, the best opening for Lord & Miller as directors (ahead of Lego Movie‘s $69M opening) and it’s Gosling’s second-best debut after Barbie ($162M).
EntTelligence reports that 5M people went to see Project Hail Mary this past weekend. Oppenheimer drew 5.9M. Average ticket prices for the pic were $15.53 (general) and $18.89 (PLFs). The bulk of attendance yesterday was between 1PM-5PM (31%) and 5PM-8PM (35%).
I didn’t realize that he’d bought the rights to the book before making the movie. Good for him. I think that its success is a combination of book fans, The Martian fans, and moviegoers excited to have a chance to see a standalone movie with good hype. I’ve long said this, but even after factors like Covid, reboots/sequels that no one asked for, and how expensive it is to see a movie, the Field of Dreams rule will always apply. If you produce a movie that people want to see, then they will come. We don’t need crazy franchise movies to lure us in. We just want to be entertained.
Ryan mentioned during an interview with Today with Jenna and Sheinelle that one of his daughters suggested that he wear glasses in the movie because they made him look smarter. That’s so funny! Ryan also said that he wanted to make a movie that was both appropriate for his young daughters and made STEM education cool. As a parent to two science- and math-oriented children, I really appreciate the thought behind that. On that note, in full disclosure: at the advice of some of the comments when we last talked about Project Hail Mary, my family and I are currently listening to its audiobook. We also didn’t watch the trailer because y’all said it was spoilery. Our goal is to be done by next weekend so we can see it as a part of Mr. Rosie’s birthday weekend celebrations. We’re only ~30% in, but are enjoying it so far.
Photos credit: Unicode Images/Avalon, Justin Ng/Avalon, Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
None of the trailers I’ve seen are that spoiler-y. The plot point they give away is something that happens maybe 50% of the way through the book, maybe even earlier than that, so its not like the book is ruined if you see the trailer. and I’m not sure how they could properly promote the movie and make trailers without that plot point. And yes the audiobook is really really good.
I’m glad it did well. People want to see original movies (I know this is adapted from a book but its original in that its not part of a franchise etc) and they want to see movies that are more family appropriate as well. Not everything has to be a Marvel movie or a gruesome gory horror movie. We did not make it to the movies to see it yet but I’m hoping over spring break we’ll get a chance. I loved the Martian – both the book and the movie (although I didn’t like one change they made in the movie) – so I’m hoping this is as good an adaptation.
I thought the trailer was quite off-putting and several people I know agree. My son ended up seeing the movie after being dragged to it – he had zero interest after seeing the trailer. He ended up really enjoying the movie and thought that the trailer does not adequately convey the tone of the movie. He thought he was in for a sappy movie and that was not the case.
I loved the trailer but I’ve read the book 🤷♀️
We saw it this weekend. Everyone enjoyed it!
We rarely go to the movies, but we were intrigued enough to go. Enjoyed it very much!
Happy for Gosling. Fall guy failed so he needed a win.
Fall guy wasn’t his fault. Don’t forget it had emily blunt.
I don’t know that I’d blame it on Emily blunt either. The movie ended up being kind of mid and the box office reflected that. My parents saw it and they like both blunt and gosling but they were just like ehhhh it wasn’t that good.
Yeah it wasn’t his fault or hers. But if someone is going to name check him,they should name check her,technically a bigger star. That’s my point.
He was the Fall guy and arguably the bigger name (in my mind at least). He was coming off an amazing run with Barbie and I totally thought that movie was gonna be a hit but for whatever reason it flopped. Emily will continue to get work in A list projects but Ryan was transitioning into beloved “movie star“. My point was he really needed this hit and he got it (and I say this as a total Gosling fan).
I feel like I’m alone in this but I LOVED The Fall Guy. It was just a fun, funny movie that entertained me a lot! Ryan is so charming and charismatic, and the action sequences were fun… you could tell that stunt performers were highly involved and exploring the art of the possible and there was a lot of creativity.
hubs, son, and I loved Fall Guy so much we saw it in the theater twice. A rarity. We’ve also watched it at home . My husband knew Hal Needham (RIP) and we both grew up watching the cheesy TV series. So those are def factors. Saw Hail Mary and although Gossling is extremely charming, but movie could’ve shaved off about 30 minutes.
I think Fall Guy would have done better if it hadn’t been sold as a remake of a TV series nobody remembers
I loved the Fall Guy too.
I think the op comment was that it wasn’t as successful as it could or should have been. I loved it too and have rewatched it several times.
I loved The Fall Guy. Very fun movie!
I loved Fall Guy and am so sad that it was considered a failure. I’m hoping maybe it becomes a cult classic…He was fantastic in it and it was both poignant and hilarious at times. Plus the stunts were great (and the Taylor Swift song scene cracked me up). I really enjoyed it.
I’ve read all the books and read PHM when it was released. Honestly, RG has worked his ass off promoting it. I wont see it in the movie because I’m disabled so over 2 hrs is a no go. I’d love to tho. I love Ryan. He’s one of the good guys, no one has a bad word. He worked so hard, looked like the tom Cruise school of movie promotion. Good on him. He attached to it very early. He deserves this.
Saw it yesterday with my 12-year-old son (who gave it a solid 10/10) and absolutely loved it! I haven’t read the book so didn’t know the full story going into it, but I laughed, I cried, I was gripping the armrest at certain points…it definitely has everything a great movie has to offer, and then some; a visual feast with a fantastic story fueled by fantastic performances (most notably, of course, by Ryan Gosling). Two very enthusiastic 👎🏻👎🏻 (😉).
We saw it last weekend (UK) and were really impressed, I can’t watch the Martian as while I love the book the movie just did stupid things. I have a couple of grumbles about PHM but can live with them and had a blast watching it.
I’m so glad it’s proving a success. More original films please!
Great shout on going through the audiobook first and avoiding the trailers. The big spoiler in the trailer was a part of the audio book that had me OMG-ing out loud the first time I listened. I have since listened to the whole thing several more times and I love it.
Ray Porter, the audiobook narrator, is a wonderful person and incredible talent. Ryan Gosling has been very generous and kind to him. Love to see it.
I saw it Friday and enjoyed it! I went with friends who hadn’t read the book and they loved it, too. It clocks in at 2.5 hrs, so it’s long, but I didn’t mind. Ryan is terrific and Sandra Huller is tremendous — I wish Stratt had a few more scenes. It’s definitely a kid-friendly film, perfect for middle school aged kids (even if they don’t like science)!
I loved how funny it was… not always the case for a space movie. Ryan Gosling was so good, as was Sandra Huller. Ryan’s sweater is already being touted all over the internet 😂
Canadian boys with their sweaters and fleeces have been having a moment😂
Andrew Garfield just wore a similar animal themed cardigan. Yes to this trend
I’ll have to check out Andrew’s. I was thinking of Hudson’s Canadian fleece but im happy to see the cozy vibes.
Maybe it’ll be this year’s Chris Evans’ Knives Out sweater. 😆
I really enjoyed the film. The book has been on my TBR for awhile and I just started it but I wanted to support the opening weekend box office. Ryan is fantastic in it and it such a beautiful film to look at(saw it in 70 MM). I like that it is optimistic about humanity (Weir, the author famously is).
Ryan has promoted the hell out of it and promoted it well. He has been surprising fans at screenings and the best thing I heard him saw ti fans was that it wasn’t their responsibility to come to the theatre, it was his to make something that people want to go to the movies to see.
Rosie, I’m glad you’re listening to the audiobook and going to see it after!
I had a special outing to see the movie with a mom friend – we both had read the book. It was such a good movie, great on a big screen. I loved it so much. And I’m going to take my husband and kids (10 and 12) to see it next weekend. I think they did a great job adapting the book. I wouldn’t have pictured Ryan in that role originally, but he absolutely carried the movie so well.
I say all of this and I’m not even a sci-fi fan, but it was a great book and a great movie.
Give people good ORIGINAL content and they’ll show up. Please stop remaking everything if you want people to actually go to the theater. I never need to see another Superman or Batman movie again.
As a professor in the humanities area, I feel the need to mention STEM is doing better than fine. Practically every cent goes to STEM these days nationwide while they keep axing English Departments (because they figure your kids don’t need literacy anymore as AI can do their thinking and writing for them, and you can’t teach writing as a 300 person lecture format—because follow the corporate academia money which is allllll about cramming butts in seats while having poverty wage adjuncts teach everything *shudder*). The real underlying issue is the U.S. STEM undergrad curriculum is antiquated across the board and still designed to brutalize students and wash them out early and needlessly. Fixing that will be what makes STEM cool to U.S. students.
I found it kinda disappointing. Was hoping for much more sci-fi; far, far less family “feel good” film. It felt like it was mostly filler, and stole a reference from ET and from Close Encounters, which I didn’t particularly find respectable on the director’s and/or screenwriter’s part
Saw it Saturday and it was so good! Gosling was great especially when you consider like 90% of his scenes he’s either by himself or acting across from a puppet. To anchor a 2.5 hr movie that’s practically a one man show is pretty amazing. Sandra was also really good and they bounced off each other well. Her singing Sign of the Times was a highlight.