The likes of Curry Barker‘s record-breaking new horror hit, Obsession, and Christopher Nolan‘s historical epic, The Odyssey, might go down as 2026’s most defining movies, but it’s hard not to still consider the sci-fi masterpiece Project Hail Maryas the face of this year in cinema. The Phil Lord and Christopher Miller-directed epic, which stars Ryan Goslingin one of his best roles yet, earned an enormous $682 million worldwide during an extended box office run, although that total has already been sailed past by The Odyssey in less than two weeks.
Project Hail Mary is an adaptation of the 2021 novel by Andy Weir, and manages to transform his literature into a cinematic spectacle for the ages. Dubbed “the first great film of 2026” in a 9/10 review from Collider’s Ross Bonaime, there is a very good chance that Project Hail Mary could leave victorious at next year’s Academy Awards. But when it comes to the most successful Oscar-winning sci-fi movies of this century, it has a long way to go to beat the 10 nominations and 7 wins of 2013’s Gravity.
Directed by the great Alfonso Cuarónand starring Sandra Bullockand George Clooney, Gravity is an expansive space-set movie that stunned audiences 13 years ago. Ambitious in scope and personal in its story, the film was a huge hit with critics and at the box office, where it earned an enormous $723 million, becoming one of the highest-grossing original movies of all time in the process. If you’re a Project Hail Mary fan looking for your next fix of off-planet spectacle, you can now stream Gravity on Paramount+.
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
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🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
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01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
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02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
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03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
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04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
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05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
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06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
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07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
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08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
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Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
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Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
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You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
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You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
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You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
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You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
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You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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Ryan Gosling Is Joining the MCU
Following Project Hail Mary and his work alongside director Shawn Levy on the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter, Gosling is finally taking the MCU plunge, as was announced during Marvel Studios’ Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con 2026. On stage, Marvel Studios Producer and President Kevin Feige confirmed that a new Ghost Rider film was officially in development, with Gosling taking the lead in a role he’d long suggested an interest in. Little is known about the film, apart from the fact that it teams Gosling back up with director Levy, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates in the future.
As of August 1, you can stream Gravity on Paramount+. Stay tuned to Collider for more stories.
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