The box office really needed “Project Hail Mary,” for many reasons, including—and especially—because this isn’t a franchise film, and yet it’s about to open with an impressive $80M this weekend. That’s the number being projected after an incredible $33M Friday, including previews. The film also earned an “A” CinemaScore. The reviews have been strong: 77 on Metacritic, 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In my review, I described ‘Hail Mary’ as a polished, crowd-pleasing sci-fi film that leans heavily on accessibility and broad appeal rather than originality or risk-taking. Ryan Gosling delivers a strong, charismatic performance that anchors the movie, and the film boasts an energetic, visually attractive style.
That said, the film mostly plays it safe, following familiar storytelling beats and engineered to be widely liked instead of artistically bold. The middle section does lag, but the home stretch—the final 45 minutes or so—is wonderful. Overall, it’s an entertaining and well-made blockbuster—but not a particularly daring or groundbreaking one.
What did you think of the film? Did it live up to the hype, or were you hoping for something more daring? Did the emotional beats land for you, and how did you feel about the pacing—especially that slower middle stretch? Finally, does it merit the early buzz it’s getting as 2026’s potential first Oscar contender, especially with Gosling already generating awards chatter for his performance
The film is set to shoot in fall 2027. The idea would be to release it in December 2028, timed to Trump's exit from office. Oh, and it's now Warner Bros.' indie label, Clockwork, that's backing the film.