Box Office: Ryan Gosling’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ Scores Biggest Debut of Year With $80.5 Million, Sets Amazon MGM Record

Ryan Gosling’s sci-fi epic “Project Hail Mary” lived up to its name, collecting a stellar $80.5 million in its box office launch to deliver a much-needed theatrical win for Amazon MGM.

This marks the studio’s biggest opening ever, shattering the record set by 2023’s “Creed III” with $58 million. It’s also the largest debut of the year above February’s slasher sequel “Scream 7” with $63 million. Heading into the weekend, “Project Hail Mary” was projected to earn $65 million or more at the domestic box office; excellent reviews and positive word-of-mouth helped to propel initial ticket sales even higher.

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“Project Hail Mary” generated $60.4 million at the international box office for a global start of $140.9 million.

“We believe deeply in the Hail Mary, and it’s clear audiences do as well,” says Amazon MGM’s distribution chief Kevin Wilson. “What we’re seeing in theaters — the energy, the exit scores, the word of mouth — is everything we believed this film would deliver.”

“Project Hail Mary,” adapted from “The Martian” author Andy Weir’s best-selling novel, cost $200 million to produce and many millions more to market. Since theater owners get to keep about half of ticket sales, Amazon MGM needs the movie to stick around beyond its debut to justify the price tag. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“21 Jump Street,” “The Lego Movie”) directed the film, which follows a scientist who embarks on an intergalactic mission to save the planet from extinction. It holds a stellar 95% average on Rotten Tomatoes and earned an “A” grade on CinemaScore exit polls.

“This is Amazon MGM’s first big hit,” says David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe. “What makes the story work is the balance of science fiction and humanity. ‘The Martian’ had similar heart, and it’s working again.”

“Project Hail Mary” comes at a pivotal time for Amazon. This is the studio’s first year with a full theatrical slate (13 films are scheduled for 2026) since the e-commerce giant MGM for $8 billion in 2022. So far, the company’s foray into theatrical has been rocky. January’s first lady doc “Melania” generated $16 million, impressive for the genre, but tragic against a $40 million price tag. Then, February’s R-rated caper “Crime 101″ grossed just $65 million against a $90 million budget. So there was pressure on “Project Hail Mary” to become a crowd-pleasing hit and change the narrative around the company’s movie efforts. Amazon’s next major release is June’s toy adaptation “Masters of the Universe,” which will try to build on the success of “Project Hail Mary.”

Audiences for “Project Hail Mary” were 57% male and 60% white. Many of them chose to watch the movie on premium large formats, with Imax, Dolby and other larger-than-life screens representing roughly 55% of ticket sales.

“This film is tailor-made for the [PLF] experience,” says Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “The results again underscore how important it is for exhibition and studios to continue prioritizing expansion efforts for those auditoriums. When an event-level film such as this captures cultural attention, it’s a perfect recipe for reminding people what truly separates the best theatrical experiences from anything else available to them.”

This weekend’s other newcomer, Disney and Searchlight’s horror sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” opened in fourth place with $9 million from 3,010 North American theaters. Those ticket sales were slightly below expectations and arrived just ahead of 2019’s “Ready or Not,” which debuted to $8 million. “Ready or Not 2” started slow overseas with $2.8 million from 21 territories for a global launch of $11.9 million. The follow-up film, starring Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton as sisters who attempt to survive a diabolical game of hide-and-seek, carries a nearly $20 million price tag.

Disney’s Pixar adventure “Hoppers” slid to second place after two weekends at No. 1. The kid-friendly film added $18 million, bringing ticket sales to $120.4 million domestically and $242 million globally after three weekends of release. “Hoppers” is snapping a cold streak for Pixar, which has scored with sequels such as “Inside Out 2” but hasn’t fielded an original hit since 2017’s “Coco.” 

Third place went to the Indian action epic “Dhurandhar The Revenge,” which earned $9.5 million from just 987 locations. According to distributor Moviegoers Entertainment, this is the biggest opening weekend ever for a Bollywood film in North America, overtaking the benchmark set by 2023’s “Pathaan” with $6.9 million.

“This is an incredible opening, especially for a four-hour movie,” the distributor wrote in a note to press.

Universal’s romantic drama “Reminders of Him” rounded out the top five with $8 million in its second weekend of release. The film, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, has generated $33 million domestically and $54 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.

“Project Hail Mary” will rule the box office until Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” lands on April 1. At this point in the year, overall ticket sales are 21% ahead of 2025, according to Comscore. However, revenues remain roughly 20% behind the pre-pandemic average. 

More to come…