Wait, are my eyes reading this correctly? “Project Hail Mary” grossed $21M+ domestically this weekend. Last weekend, it had a $24M tally — that’ll just be a 10-12% drop. Insane. The legs on this film.
Forget about “Super Mario Bros Galaxy Movie” — we already knew that one would make a lot of money, and yes, it’s expected to top the box office again this weekend with a $35M cume. Rather, what makes ‘Hail Mary’ such a great success story is that not many expected these kind of numbers by week five.
The film is at $285M domestically and $574M worldwide. It’s just $56M away from matching 2015’s “The Martian” ($630M) and will, in all likelihood, hit $700M in a week or two’s time. The great word of mouth, plus people rewatching this film multiple times, has helped turn it into a blockbuster.
These numbers come only a few days after Amazon announced it was extending the theatrical run of “Hail Mary” and delaying its Prime Video release because the movie was performing too strongly in cinemas. The studio explained that the continued audience demand and solid box-office results justified keeping it exclusively in theaters longer.
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. This film is immensely audience-friendly — not meant to provoke, take sharp artistic risks or stir up debate. Rather, it just wants moviegoers to enjoy the ride, and maybe that’s what ticket buyers want at the moment.
As for its awards prospects, expect “Hail Mary” to very much be part of the Oscar conversation by year’s end — it stands to be competitive in ATL categories like best picture, best director, best actor, and best adapted screenplay.
Yes, we’re just four months into the year, and only ‘Hail Mary’ has stood out so far, I’m sure that will change after Cannes, or when Nolan and Spielberg screen, but as it stands, it’s looking mightily good for the film.