Project Hail Mary blasts off to a record-breaking $80 million, becomes 2026's biggest box office ...

Ryan Gosling's second big trip to outer space, after &34;First Man,&34; broke new ground for Amazon — and the domestic box office. Project Hail Mary blasts off to a recordbreaking $80 million, becomes 2026's biggest box office premiere Ryan Gosling's second big trip to outer space, after &34;First Man,&34; broke new ground for Amazon — and the domestic box office. By Ryan Coleman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RyanColemanauthorphoto0081ce8f0254478080f35972c433877b.jpg) Ryan Coleman Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

Ryan Gosling's second big trip to outer space, after "First Man," broke new ground for Amazon — and the domestic box office.

*Project Hail Mary *blasts off to a record-breaking $80 million, becomes 2026's biggest box office premiere

Ryan Gosling's second big trip to outer space, after "First Man," broke new ground for Amazon — and the domestic box office.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

EW's editorial guidelines

March 22, 2026 7:30 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'. Credit:

Jonathan Olley/Amazon MGM Studios

- *Project Hail Mary *blasted off to the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend.

- The Ryan Gosling space odyssey's $80 million domestically and $141 million globally makes it the biggest premiere of 2026 so far, and the biggest for Amazon MGM Studios.

- Pixar's *Hoppers *still leads in overall gross, but *Hail Mary *is poised to become the year's biggest earner so far, even as it faces down competition from *Forbidden Fruits *and *They Will Kill You *next week.

One small step for Ryan Gosling, one giant leap for the domestic box office.

The American movie star's latest big swing, glossy space odyssey *Project Hail Mary*, burned through the outer layer of box office projections this weekend for a dazzling $80 million domestic premiere, and $60.4 million abroad, per Comscore.

Directed by the *Spider-Verse *producing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, based on the novel by *The Martian *author Andy Weir, and adapted by Oscar-nominated *Buffy*, *Cloverfield*, and *Cabin in the Woods *scribe Drew Goddard, *Project Hail Mary *was shaped by crew of competent hands. The industry had great expectations of the film: *Project* *Hail Mary* was budgeted at an estimated $200 million and was projected to have a $100 million worldwide premiere.

But it has flown far past that figure with a nearly $141 million take worldwide, becoming the biggest domestic premiere of 2026 and the best yet for Amazon MGM Studios.

Still from 'Hoppers'.

After just three days in theaters, *Hail Mary* is already the No. 7 highest grossing film of 2026 so far. But two films in that top five, *Avatar: Fire and Ash *and *Zootopia 2*,* *can already be knocked off the list as they both opened in late 2025.

*Project Hail Mary*'s competition then stands at *Wuthering Heights*, which in five weeks has grossed just $3 million more than *Hail Mary *earned in three days; Steph Curry's animated sports flick *GOAT*, which has hit the tail end of its hot streak at the box office; *Scream 7*, which did set a franchise premiere record, but is likely to cap out domestically around $120 million; and finally, *Hail Mary*'s ultimate competitor, *Hoppers.*

Pixar's adorable talking-animals animated offering could not beat *Scream 7*'s record-setting opening of $64 million, the previous best of 2026. But it has surpassed all others in leaping to $120 million overall. It came in at No. 2 domestically this weekend with $18 million, and No. 3 abroad with $55.2 million, following the $81 million premiere of the Hindi spy thriller *Dhurandhar: The Revenge.*

But nothing could beat *Project Hail Mary*'s global total of $141 million, although it's still a long ways out from the $242.5 million *Hoppers *has amassed in three weeks.

'Hoppers' leaps to easy victory over 'Reminders of Him' and 'Undertone' at Oscars weekend box office

How Meryl Streep ended up making a surprise cameo in this small, strange 'Project Hail Mary' role

Amid all this success, a sour note. *Ready or Not 2: Here I Come*, which followed from the critically acclaimed 2019 horror comedy starring Samara Weaving, could not scare audiences in sufficient numbers back to theaters in its premiere weekend.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

The sequel from original directing team Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett added Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Cronenberg, and Elijah Wood to the cast, but only earned $9.1 million domestically, and a meager $11.9 million abroad. That is over a $14 million estimated budget, however, which the film is likely to at least recoup, even factoring in unreported marketing and promotional expenses.

Those figures earned the film the No. 4 spot domestically and No. 5 globally. Elsewhere, A24's *Undertone *continues to pull in modest crowds, given its estimated $500,000 budget. The podcasting mystery earned the No. 8 spot domestically with a $3 million week 2 gross, just below *GOAT*, which earned $3.5 million in week 6.

Gosling and his interstellar comrades, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, and Lionel Boyce, don't face any imminent threats at the box office next week.

*Project Hail Mary* achieved a firm lead on *GOAT*, *Hoppers*, *Scream 7*, and the like in its premiere. Next week's slate of new premieres doesn't include any obvious hits — at least that hold the promise of achieving a Hail Mary against Gosling's space film.

Two cult-based horror-comedies will try, however: Lili Reinhardt, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, and Alexandra Shipp aim to add a fresh entry to the canon of fearsome female foursomes — alongside *Set It Off *and *D.E.B.S.* — with* Forbidden Fruits*. The film, about a witch cult, is slated to premiere beside demonic-cult movie, *They Will Kill You*, starring Zazie Beetz, Patricia Arquette, and *Harry Potter *alum Tom Felton — but the two cult comedies may cancel each other out.

- Movie Reviews & Recommendations

- Movie Industry

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Box"

Read More

---

Source: Box

Published: March 23, 2026 at 01:38AM on Source: RON MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle