Entertainment
New Sci-Fi Masterpiece Destroys M. Night Shyamalan’s Rare Genre Experiment at the Box Office
Ryan Gosling‘s latest film, Project Hail Mary, has now overtaken the lifetime worldwide box office haul of his 2017 sci-fi classic, Blade Runner 2049. It has also more than doubled the worldwide gross of his critically acclaimed biopic First Man, and is on track to overtake La La Land to become his highest-grossing hit. Gosling has been trying to pivot from arthouse cinema to more mainstream fare in recent years; he has the biggest movie of his career, Star Wars: Starfighter, lined up for release in 2027. However, Project Hail Mary is exactly what he needed to build toward his Star Wars feature. The critically acclaimed sci-fi sensation passed a couple of major box-office milestones in its second weekend, as it expanded its footprint globally.
The movie marks the directorial comeback of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who haven’t had a movie in theaters in over a decade. Based on the novel by Andy Weir, whose earlier bestseller served as the basis for Ridley Scott‘s The Martian, Project Hail Mary has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes — higher than any movie in Gosling’s career. He has an uncommonly impressive track record; aside from films such as Blade Runner 2049, First Man, and La La Land, Gosling has also starred in Drive, The Nice Guys, The Big Short, and Barbie. Project Hail Mary is his most expensive vehicle yet, with a reported budget of $200 million. Unlike previous releases by Amazon Studios, the movie has done exceptionally well in the IMAX format.
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‘Project Hail Mary’ Has Demolished the Worldwide Haul of M. Night Shyamalan’s Worst Film in Just 10 Days
This weekend, the film grossed nearly $55 million domestically to pass the $160 million mark in North America. It has also grossed over $100 million from overseas markets, for a running global cume of approximately $280 million. This puts Project Hail Mary on track to pass the $300 million mark by Monday. As things stand, the movie has overtaken the $244 million worldwide gross of M. Night Shyamalan‘s After Earth, starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith. The critically panned sci-fi adventure film was released in 2013, and was intended as something of a Hail Mary for Shyamalan’s struggling career. The experiment didn’t pay off, and he had to return to square one and claw his way back up. After Earth is the lowest-rated film of his career, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and an interesting counterpoint to Project Hail Mary. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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March 20, 2026
- Runtime
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156 Minutes
- Director
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Christopher Miller, Phil Lord
- Writers
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Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
- Producers
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Ryan Gosling, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Aditya Sood, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O’Connor
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