What an amazing success “Project Hail Mary” has become. The film earned $7M on Friday and will have a $24M fourth weekend — that’s a very low 31% drop from the previous weekend.
The film will hit $255M+ domestic by Sunday evening. At this point, $300M is very likely. It’s currently at $500M worldwide, which means $600M is not out of the question. The film is reported to have a $200M budget.
Word of mouth has traveled fast on “Project Hail Mary,” spreading like wildfire, and that’s primarily why it’s doing so well. I called it “populist entertainment,” and that is truly what it is. Of course, Amazon/MGM want a ‘Hail Mary’ sequel (terrible idea), even though the film has a satisfying, complete ending that doesn’t warrant a continuation at all.
Meanwhile, some great news for A24: “The Drama” has legs. It grossed almost $3M on Friday and might, just might, hit $10M in its second weekend. That would be just a 33% drop from its opening. The budget was only $25M. The film’s global tally might hit $65M by Sunday.
That’s what you call exceeding expectations, especially since reviews for the film weren’t all-out raves — they were mostly good, but nothing that would indicate these kinds of legs. The plot twist and the sheer cringe nature of “The Drama” — watching this film with a packed audience is fun — seem to be what’s driving the buzz.
Meanwhile, topping the box office again will be “Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which I watched a few days ago with my five-year-old son. It was a damn-near unwatchable experience for me, but hey, at least he liked it. It grossed $17M on Friday and is expected to have a $67M weekend, which will take its domestic tally to $307M+ by Sunday.
Next week’s big wide release will be “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” which is currently tracking at around the $12M mark. There’s also A24’s “Mother Mary,” which might be a bomb for the studio — reviews depending for both of these films, since the embargo has yet to lift.
Just five Cannes competition titles still seek U.S. distribution, four of them subpar, all French. The fifth, and easily the best film still without US studio attachment, is Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love.”