Project Hail Mary Is Closing In On Ridley Scott’s Box Office Record After Passing Huge Domestic Milestone

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Project Hail Mary is orbiting a potential box office record.

This weekend, the new movie based on the popular novel by The Martian author Andy Weir is reaching a significant box office achievement. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the sci-fi adventure stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a teacher tasked with a critical mission to save Earth. Project Hail Mary premiered on March 20th and has quickly exceeded $330 million globally, becoming Amazon MGM Studios’ most successful film ever and holding the number one spot domestically for two weeks.

According to Deadline, Project Hail Mary is expected to earn $32.6 million this weekend, bringing its total domestic earnings to $219.1 million. While this puts it in second place behind the new animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s the first film released in 2023 to reach $200 million at the domestic box office.

With just $9.3 million more, the 2026 film Project Hail Mary will become the highest-grossing movie based on an Andy Weir novel in North America, surpassing the $228.4 million earned by the 2015 film The Martian. It’s likely Hail Mary will reach $228.5 million during its third week in theaters, but if not, it’s expected to easily exceed that amount during its fourth weekend.

The film is not expected to experience a dramatic drop in viewership. While a fourth-weekend gross of only $9.3 million would be a significant 71% decline, it’s highly improbable. So far, the movie has held onto its audience well, with drops of only 32.8% in its second weekend and 40% in its third – even after losing its IMAX screenings to Mario. That third-weekend drop was particularly impressive considering the loss of IMAX theaters, and suggests continued strong performance.

While the new movie is doing well, it still needs to earn significantly more to surpass the worldwide success of The Martian. That film earned $630.6 million globally, making it one of the highest-grossing sci-fi movies ever, largely thanks to its $402.2 million international box office. Currently, the new movie only gets 45.1% of its earnings from outside the US, compared to 63.8% for The Martian, suggesting it may fall short of matching that total.

The new Ryan Gosling film has a strong chance of becoming Andy Weir’s most successful movie worldwide. Early reviews for the film are excellent, with a 95% rating from critics and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes – even better than the 91% scores achieved by The Martian. This positive reception suggests it could perform very well at the box office.

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2026-04-04 21:34