‘Project Hail Mary’ Blasts Off to $81M U.S. Launch, $141M Globally

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s space epic, starring Ryan Gosling, is only the second non-sequel or franchise film of the past decade to open to $80 million or more domestically after Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary — Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace in ‘Project Hail Mary.’ Jonathan Olley/Amazon Content Service

Original stories are thriving at the box-office.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling in top form, blasted off with domestic launch of $80.6 million–the best of 2026 so far–and $60.4 million overseas for worldwide start of $141 million.

It is a notable win for Amazon MGM as it’s becoming a full-fledged major Hollywood studio at a time when few legacy studios remain; Paramount is preparing to acquire Warner.

Heading into the weekend, Project Hail Mary was looking at debut of $50 million, but quickly went into hyperdrive when both critics and viewers embraced the adventure-action movie with rave reviews and audience scores.

Scribe Goddard is back in the fold after successfully adapting another Weir novel, The Martian, for the big screen.

Project Hail Mary is becoming only one of three non-sequel or non-franchise in the the past decade to open to $60 million or more domestically. Not only that, it nearly matched the No. 1 movie on the list; Nolan’s Oscar winnng Oppenheimer ($82 million), not adjusted for inflation. The third is Us ($71 million).

My Oscar Book:

Only two other non-sequel, non-franchise titles have opened above $50 million after the pandemic era: Apple’s F1: The Movie and It Ends With Us.

In terms of sci-fi space genre, Project Hail Mary is in the same solar system as Nolan’s Interstellar’s opening in 2014.

“You could feel how big this film was going to be with the rave reviews from the early screenings and massive presales. But to see it happen this weekend is amazing! Congrats to everyone to who was involved in making this film,” said Amazon distribution chief Kevin Wilson. “Openings like this is what makes this business special.”

One of few bankabe stars, Ryan Gosling proves he can have chemistry with a rock in this thrilling space odyssey warmed by positive humanity.

The movie is also opening in 82 markets around the globe, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Korea, Japan and China.

Pixar and Disney‘s Hoppers is now the second-biggest film of the year to date after earning another $18 million in it third outing to finish Sunday with domestic tally of $120.4 million $242.6 million globally.

Another strong new player of the weekend is Dhurandhar: The Revenge, the latest installment in the Indian action-thriller starring Ranveer Singh. The pic overperformed to come in in third with north of $10 million.

Searchlight Pictures’ horror-comedy Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, placed fourth in its North American launch with an estimated $9.1 million for an early global start of $11.9 million. The film, directed by filmmaking duo Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett), stars Samara Weaving reprising her role as the fan-favorite, Grace.

Ready or Not 2, with solid reviews and and a B+ CinemaScore also launched in its firsf handful of major markets overseas, including the U.K., Australia and Brazil, It will be playing almost everywhere by mid-April.