Project Hail Mary Blasts To Record-Breaking $141 million At Global Box Office

Based on Andy Weir’s 2020 sci-fi novel of the same name, Project Hail Mary has reached a $141 million worldwide box office gross after its opening weekend, following an additional $60 million earned from other countries on top of its American gross of around $80 million. Read our review of the film here.

The film stars leading man Ryan Gosling as Dr Grace, who awakens on a space shuttle to a deceased crew and no memory of who he is. He soon pieces together that he has been tasked with saving the sun, set to die out in thirty years and taking most of the world’s population with it. A shocking discovery of an extraterrestrial being with the same goal lands the doctor on a life-changing journey.

This marks Project Hail Mary as a major milestone for several names attached. It is now Amazon MGM’s biggest debut, Gosling’s second-biggest debut behind Greta Gerwig’s toy-based adaptation of Barbie, which grossed a total of $162 million, directors Miller and Lord’s top debut (it has yet to beat the directors’ 2023 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse gross of $690.8 million, the sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and reportedly the best opening for a non-franchise film release in March.

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So far, Project Hail Mary has to make another $100 million to top its initial budget of $200-250 million. It currently falls $2,799,000,000 behind James Cameron’s 2009 spectacle Avatar, which is the highest-grossing sci-fi film of all time ($2.924 billion against a $237 million budget).

A previous Andy Weir adaptation titled The Martian, originally published in 2011, was released in 2015 by sci-fi powerhouse director Ridley Scott and starred Matt Damon, made from a budget of $108 million. It earned a total box office gross of $630.6 million ($522.8 million more) and went on to feature on several Best Films of the Year lists. It also earned seven nominations at the 88th Academy Awards.

Also appearing in top spots of the current Box Office Mojo list include Pixar’s Hoppers, Dhurandhar The Revenge (Aditya Dhar) and the horror sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

Project Hail Mary is in all cinemas now.

About the Author

Ros Tibbs

Editor

Ros is a film and lit graduate writing news and reviews at The People's Magazine. She also writes long-form film theory, film history, analytical or curated recommendations pieces on other platforms.

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