<em>Project Hail Mary</em> has surpassed a significant box office milestone.
The newly released sci-fi blockbuster, adapting the Andy Weir novel of the same name, features Ryan Gosling as a middle school teacher sent into space to prevent the sun from being consumed by an unknown substance. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film also stars Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall). Project Hail Mary debuted on March 20, maintaining the No. 1 position at the domestic box office for two consecutive weekends, becoming Amazon MGM Studios’ highest-grossing release to date.
According to Variety, as of Sunday morning, Project Hail Mary is projected to conclude its third weekend in theaters with a cumulative global box office total of $420.7 million, which includes $217 million from domestic theaters and $203.7 million from international markets. It is the first film of the year to exceed the $200 million domestic milestone and only the third Ryan Gosling film to surpass the $400 million global milestone.
The Project Hail Mary film ranks just behind Ryan Gosling’s Oscar-winning films La La Land ($523.1 million) and Barbie ($1.447 billion), having outperformed several of his previous major hits, including Blade Runner 2049 ($277.9 million), Crazy, Stupid, Love ($145.1 million), The Big Short ($133.4 million), and The Notebook ($118.6 million).
The 2026 release of Project Hail Mary is also currently the highest-grossing English-language film of the year. Although the new animated release The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is on track to surpass it soon with its approximately $375 million 5-day global debut, so far, Ryan Gosling’s title is only behind the Chinese live-action hit Pegasus 3 ($609.1 million) on this year’s global chart.
Given how quickly Project Hail Mary has reached this major milestone, it appears poised to turn a profit in theaters. This was not guaranteed due to its substantial reported budget of $200 million, nearly double the reported $108 million cost of the previous Andy Weir adaptation, 2015’s The Martian.
Due to its production budget, Project Hail Mary‘s estimated theatrical break-even point could be as high as $500 million. Achieving that benchmark would place the movie among the Top 50 highest-grossing sci-fi films of all time, underscoring the significant risk taken with this project. However, that risk seems to be paying off.
It remains uncertain whether Project Hail Mary will ultimately surpass La La Land as Ryan Gosling’s second highest-grossing film ever. However, it has a good chance given the limited competition in the upcoming release schedule. While it will face some titles with significant blockbuster potential such as Michael (April 24) and The Devil Wears Prada 2 (May 1), there is no direct live-action sci-fi competitor arriving in theaters until May 22 with the debut of The Mandalorian and Grogu.
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