‘Project Hail Mary’ is a big hit at the box office already.
Ryan Gosling stars in the movie.
Elsewhere, Pixar’s ‘Hoppers’ stayed strong but ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ only found modest results.
‘Project Hail Mary’ chronicles a man in spaceship on a mission to save humanity from a star-snacking organism. And the movie itself, which stars Ryan Gosling, has just saved Amazon MGM’s box office hopes.
The new film, adapted from the novel by ‘The Martian’s Andy Weir by writer Drew Goddard and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, enjoyed a massive domestic opening of $80.5 million, the biggest by far for the studio.
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Even with a hefty $200 million budget to make up (not including a big ad campaign), the movie’s worldwide start of 140.9 million –– the biggest in Amazon MGM’s history and the strongest launch for a movie so far this year –– will go some way to helping that.
Pixar’s ‘Hoppers,’ which has proved to be a welcome success for the animation company, slid to second place after a couple of weeks. It added $18 million for $120.4 million domestically.
Third place went to the Indian action epic ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge,’ which earned $9.5 million from just 987 locations.
Searchlight’s ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ had to make do with $9 million domestically and $11.9 million globally, but has a relatively smaller budget of around $20 million.
Finally, in fifth place we find romantic drama ‘Reminders of Him’, which made $8 million.
What’s on the horizon?
(L to R) Luigi, Yoshi, Mario and Toad in Nintendo and Illumination’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
‘Project Hail Mary’ should have a clear run to keep earning next week, though Universal’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ is looming, and if it follows the pattern of the original, will likely launch in first place when it arrives on April 1.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of traveling to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California to sit down in-person with Ryan Gosling to talk about his work on ‘Project Hail Mary’, the film’s humor, working with a puppeteer, improvising on set, why he liked acting alone, collaborating with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and playing a nontraditional hero.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Gosling, Sandra Hüller, author Andy Weir, screenwriter Drew Goddard, and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
Moviefone: To begin with, the film has a lot of humor in it. What was your first reaction to the screenplay and did the funny read on the page?
Ryan Gosling: I think it was a combination of all those things. I mean, Andy is funny, Andy Weir, the writer of the book. It’s such a part of his voice, is to acknowledge that things are funny and not just make them intentionally serious. Also, I think what’s special about him is not to make things intentionally bleak. There’s an optimism about his work. There’s this sense of don’t fear the future, just figure it out. With that, and with that approach and letting curiosity take over for anxiety, there’s sort of an opportunity for humor in that.
MF: Can you talk about the friendship Grace forms with Rocky, and what was it like for you working with the puppeteers on set to create that relationship?
RG: I think it was an experience I’ll never get to have again. It just was a once in a lifetime experience to work in this way with Rocky and the Rocketeers, which is what we called them. That was his glam squad. He’s high maintenance. He’s a bit of a diva, but he’s worth it. He’s the best costar you could have.
MF: Were you surprised by the way Rocky looked and were you able to improvise with the puppeteers on set?
RG: I was involved in all of that, so I wasn’t surprised. There wasn’t a reveal moment, but I was surprised really by James Ortiz who came in and became that lead puppeteer for Rocky. Because he was just supposed to be the physical puppeteer, but he started reading the lines with me to just have someone to say the lines with. But then he had such a deep connection to Rocky, and he understood him so deeply that we got to the point where we could improvise for hours sometimes off script as the characters on camera. That’s where this starts to become something else where it feels like a real relationship, and it feels like it’s happening in real time because it is. That’s something I don’t think you could get any other way but shooting it practically.
MF: You spend a lot of the movie acting alone. What was that like for you to do those scenes by yourself and not have another actor to react to?
RG: I liked it. I did. It was fun because you get to explore any idea you have. It was an opportunity to just take every scene in any direction I could think of and experiment. So, I liked it.
MF: Can you talk about collaborating with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller on set? Were they open to trying different things and seeing what works?
RG: Yes. I remember there’s a scene where I had been working alone for a long time and I was missing a partner and I said, “I need to make a friend out of a mop, so I have someone to talk to and I’m going to do that.” They were like, “Hold everything.” They both started scouring the set to find stuff we could do. We made this character we called “Moppy Ringwald”, and she became my dance partner and my friend for the day. That’s just what it was like working with them, that I could come to them with this need, and they were just on it and ready to shoot it. It ended up becoming a fun part of the film.
MF: Finally, your character is not the traditional movie hero and is even reluctant to go on this mission. What was it like for you to play a vulnerable character like that?
RG: I mean, I related to that. It was very relatable. I think that’s what’s so strong about this story is that you have a guy that’s not a natural hero that doesn’t see himself that way at all. He just wakes up and finds out that the fate of humanity is in his hands and his instinct is to run away, but he can’t. So, he must find some way to face it and deal with his fear and suddenly let curiosity take over from the anxiety he’s feeling in the panic. I think it was great for me and I think for an audience too to go through that experience of, “Okay, what happens after the panic? What happens when we say, we’re afraid, but now we must fix this?”
‘Project Hail Mary’ opens in theaters on March 20th.
What is the plot of ‘Project Hail Mary’?
Astronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awakens on a spacecraft with no memory of himself or his mission. He deduces he is the sole survivor of a crew sent to the Tau Ceti system to save Earth from disaster. To do so, Grace must rely on his vast array of scientific knowledge, sheer ingenuity, and human will, but he learns he is not alone: he is aided by an alien he dubs Rocky (voice of James Ortiz), who has come to save his world from the same fate.
Who is in the cast of ‘Project Hail Mary’?
Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace
Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt
Lionel Boyce as Officer Steve Hatch
Ken Leung as Yáo Li-Jie
Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina
James Ortiz as the voice and lead puppeteer of Rocky
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Preview:
‘Project Hail Mary’ touched down at Comic-Con.
The panel included Ryan Gosling, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
The movie adapts Andy Weir’s book.
‘Project Hail Mary’ represents the collaboration between some fairly stellar names in filmmaking. Take directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have brought acclaimed comedies and Oscar-winning animated superhero movies to screens while having fun with genre.
Add in Ryan Gosling, who has proved his chops in both the dramatic and laugh-grabbing departments. And blend them with the invention of Andy Weir, whose book ‘The Martian’ became a wildly successful movie in its own right.
The result is a space-set adventure that appears to offer plenty of laughs and humanity to go with the big ideas.
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So the movie was naturally one that Amazon MGM Studios knew could play well at Comic-Con, with the team showing up for a panel in Hall H.
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
‘Project Hail Mary’ is set in the near future. Our hero is Ryland Grace (Gosling), a school teacher-turned-astronaut who wakes up from a coma, alone, on a space station with no memory of who he is or his mission.
His memory returns in bursts and he pieces together that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to reverse the impact of a space event that had already hurled our planet into the early stages of an Ice Age.
As details of the mission unravel, he must call on all of his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he might not have to do it alone…
What happened at the ‘Project Hail Mary’ panel?
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Much as with big movies such as ‘TRON: Ares’, the ‘Project Hail Mary’ team made good use of the giant screens that stretch down the sides of Hall H, projecting logos and the galactic map seen in the trailer.
Those on stage included directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard (who also adapted ‘The Martian’).
Gosling talked about why he wanted to join the projecting, citing Weir as the greatest science fiction writer (and not just because he was sitting next to him on the panel). He knew it would be great, but not how great.
Here’s what else he said:
“It’s about a scared guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing and I was a scared guy who didn’t know what I was doing, trying to turn it into a movie.”
He called Lord and Miller, which seems like a smart move…
For their part, the directors also used a movie metaphor to describe working with Gosling, in that it’s about collaboration and they had a great time working with the actor.
The filmmakers shared new concept art from the movie, including spaceship designs and more.
Biggest news of the panel? Daniel Pemberton, who has experience working with Lord and Miller on the ‘Spider-Verse’ movies, is the composer for this.
But the best part of the panel? The first five minutes of the movie were shown, including Gosling waking up from an induced coma, befuddled and unsure of where he is. He struggles with a robot that is trying to help him and discovers that the crew in the chamber with him are all dead.
Other clips were shown, but from later in the movie, so we’ll avoid discussing those to stay away from spoilers.
When will ‘Project Hail Mary’ be on screens?
Unlike some of the other projects touted at this year’s convention, we still have a wait for ‘Project Hail Mary’.
Amazon MGM Studios will release the movie in theaters on March 20th, 2026.
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Ryan Gosling will play an astronaut in ‘Project Hail Mary’.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller are directing.
The movie will be on screens in 2026.
Given the success of 2015’s ‘The Martian’ –– which saw Matt Damon starring as an astronaut trapped on Mars, was directed by Ridley Scott, notched a big profit at the box office and was nominated for seven Oscars –– it’s almost surprising it has taken this long for another tome by Andy Weir, who wrote the source book, to properly launch its journey to theaters.
But then, the wheels of development grind slowly, and while at least one other book, ‘Artemis’, set on the moon, seems locked in limbo, another, ‘Project Hail Mary’, now has a star, directors and even a release date.
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What’s the story of ‘Project Hail Mary’?
Ryan Gosling in ‘First Man’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
‘Project Hail Mary’ is set in the near future. Our hero is Ryland Grace, a schoolteacher-turned-astronaut who wakes up from a coma, alone, on a space station with no memory of who he is or his mission.
His memory returns in bursts and he pieces together that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to reverse the impact of a space event that had already hurled our planet into the early stages of an Ice Age.
As details of the mission unravel, he must call on all of his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he might not have to do it alone…
So… ‘The Martian’ meets ‘The Hangover’? Would watch. Will watch.
(L to R) Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the set of ’21 Jump Street.’
Weir’s book was published in 2021, and since then has been on a faster track to screens than ‘Artemis’.
Drew Goddard, who adapted ‘The Martian’ (and scored an Oscar nomination for his efforts), has once more written the script.
Instead of Scott returning to direct, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are technically also still attached to ‘Artemis’, but have seen ‘Hail Mary’ move forward into prime position (let’s be honest: scheduling movies is like finding launch windows for Mars missions).
The pair will hopefully bring their instinct for balancing comedy and drama, and while their last crack at sci-fi didn’t quite work out (that would be their ill-fated stint on ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, where they ended up creatively clashing with Lucasfilm and were ultimately replaced by Ron Howard), you’ve got to have faith in the duo who have made winners such as ‘The Lego Movie’ and are key players on the ‘Spider-Verse’ franchise.
Finally, Ryan Gosling is in place to be the central astronaut with memory issues. He’s been on a role of late, so we’re hoping for something that brings dry, smart humor to go with the space drama, as seen in ‘The Martian’.
When will ‘Project Hail Mary’ be in theaters?
That’s the final piece to fall into place… Amazon MGM Studios has planted a flag in a March 20th, 2026, release date for the movie. Start your countdown clocks!
When it comes to becoming a writer, “The Martian” scribe Andy Weir tells Made in Hollywood that the path begins with the obvious.
“You have to actually write,” he asserts. “It’s so easy to daydream — until you write it, it’s just a fantasy.”
The author began writing the science fiction novel in 2009, but was snubbed by literary agents when he attempted to get it published — so he published it for free online in a serial format.
After gaining fans, it was listed on Amazon Kindle, a request from his readers, later shooting to the top of Amazon’s best sellers list, which attracted the attention of the literary community, ultimately leading to a publishing deal.
For aspiring writers, Weir says it’s important to “resist the urge to tell your story to friends and family.” “If you tell the story verbally, it satisfies your need for an audience, and the need for an audience really drives the writer.”
Weir, whose “The Martian” is his first book, insists that self-publishing is the way to get discovered. “This is the best time in human history,” he says, “because you can publish for free with no financial risk. There’s no more ‘old boy’ network between you and reader.”
