Project Hail Mary is bringing audiences to movie theaters in numbers the industry hasn't seen for a nonfranchise film since Oppenheimer. The science fiction epic starring Ryan Gosling earned around $80.5 million in ticket sales in its first weekend playing in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. Box office tracker EntTelligence estimates that translates into about 5 million ticket buyers, the AP reports. The PG-13 rated film opened on 4,007 screens and easily topped the domestic box office charts, surpassing expectations and delivering a record opening for studio Amazon MGM, whose previous best was "Creed III" ($58 million in 2023).
Not accounting for inflation, Project Hail Mary scored the second-biggest opening for a nonfranchise movie behind only Oppenheimer, which opened to $82.4 million in 2023. Internationally, Project Hail Mary earned $60.4 million from 82 markets, bringing its global total to $140.9 million. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Project Hail Mary cost about double the Oppenheimer production budget, with a price tag in the $200 million range. It carries strong reviews and audience scores: According to PostTrak exit polls, where it scored five out of five stars, 83% of audiences said they would "definitely recommend" the film. The film is centered around Gosling's character, who wakes up alone and with little memory on a spaceship, where his apparent mission is to try to save the sun from dying. The other big opener, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, came in a distant fourth.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
- Project Hail Mary, $80.5 million.
- Hoppers, $18 million.
- Dhurandhar: The Revenge, $10 million.
- Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, $9.1 million.
- Reminders of Him, $8 million.
- Scream 7, $4.3 million.
- Goat, $3.7 million.
- Undertone, $3 million.
- The Pout-Pout Fish, $1.5 million.
- MET Opera: Tristan und Isolde, $722,499.