Project Hail Mary Hits Box Office Milestone That’s Nearly Unheard Of

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Project Hail Mary is rocketing into the stratosphere.

Okay, let me tell you about Project Hail Mary, the big sci-fi hit from 2026. Ryan Gosling is fantastic as Ryland Grace, a scientist with a bit of a past, who gets thrown into a desperate space mission to figure out why our sun is mysteriously being eaten away. It’s not a mission he can do alone, though – he ends up partnering with an alien, and their teamwork is the heart of the story. The film’s been a massive success, recently getting an extended run thanks to Amazon MGM Studios. We’re talking over $550 million worldwide, the biggest opening weekend of the year so far, and it’s officially the studio’s most successful film ever. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, check it out!

According to Deadline, Project Hail Mary is expected to earn $12.1 million this weekend, bringing its total domestic earnings to $304.3 million after six weeks in theaters. Although based on Andy Weir’s 2021 novel, the film is notable for being only the fifth science fiction movie that isn’t part of a larger franchise or based on superheroes to reach $300 million domestically.

This film is now among the top 117 highest-grossing movies of all time. It’s especially noteworthy because it’s rare for a science fiction movie that isn’t part of an established franchise to achieve this level of success in U.S. theaters. Project Hail Mary joins the ranks of classic sci-fi films like Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and George Lucas’s Star Wars: A New Hope, which both set new standards for blockbuster entertainment.

Here’s a list of all sci-fi movies that aren’t based on a franchise or superheroes and have earned over $300 million at the U.S. box office, along with how they rank compared to each other.

Rank Title Domestic Box Office
#4 Avatar (2009) $785.2 million
#27 Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) $461 million
#33 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $439.4 million
#111 Independence Day (1996) $306.2 million
#114 Project Hail Mary (2026) $304.3 million

As a huge movie fan, I was looking at the numbers, and there are a couple of films that could arguably fit on this chart. I’m thinking about Spielberg’s Jurassic Park from ’93 – it made over $407 million domestically – and The Hunger Games from 2012, which did around $408 million. If we included those, Project Hail Mary would drop to number seven, but honestly, it would still be in the top ten for sci-fi movies that aren’t part of a big franchise or superhero series, which is pretty impressive!

It’s still uncertain how high Project Hail Mary will climb on the charts. It’s expected to soon exceed the domestic earnings of Independence Day – possibly by the end of the week – which would be a significant achievement. To reach even greater success, the film needs to surpass $400 million in total earnings.

Even though the movie’s numbers have only decreased slightly each week, this weekend saw a more significant drop of 41%. Still, it’s already proven to be a huge success with both critics and audiences.

Not only is Project Hail Mary receiving excellent reviews – a 96% ‘Certified Fresh’ score from critics and a 96% ‘Verified Hot’ score from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes – but it’s also proving to be a financial success. Despite costing around $200 million to make, which meant it needed to earn roughly $500 million worldwide to break even, the movie has already exceeded that amount and continues to perform well in theaters.

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2026-04-25 19:20