How Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary Earned Nearly 700 Million Dollars

Project Hail Mary, the adaptation of the novel by The Martian author Andy Weir, opened in US cinemas on 20 March and became one of the biggest hits of 2026. It has grossed 685.3 million dollars worldwide and ranks among the year’s seven highest-grossing films.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, made the film from a screenplay by Drew Goddard, who was Oscar-nominated for The Martian. Ryan Gosling plays the lead.

What the film is about

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on an interstellar spacecraft bound for the star Tau Ceti with no memory of how he got there. He is the only survivor of a three-person crew. Gradually he remembers that Earth is in danger: alien microbes called astrophage are dimming the Sun. Near Tau Ceti he meets Rocky, an alien from another star whose world faces the same threat, and together they look for a way to save both planets.

Who is in it

• Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace;
• Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt, head of the international project;
• James Ortiz as Rocky;
• Ken Leung as ship commander Yao Li-Jie;
• Milana Vayntrub as engineer Olesya Ilyukhina;
• Lionel Boyce as Carl;
• Priya Kansara as the voice of the onboard computer.

How it was made

Filming ran from 3 June to 26 October 2024, mainly at Shepperton Studios near London. The spacecraft was built in full without green screen, and NASA experts consulted on the science. Rocky is half puppet, operated by a team of five puppeteers led by James Ortiz, and half computer animation by Framestore. The cinematographer is Greig Fraser, an Oscar winner for Dune, and the music is by Daniel Pemberton. The budget was about 200 million dollars and the running time is 156 minutes. The first test cut ran almost four hours.

Box office and reviews

The film took 80.6 million dollars in its US opening weekend, nearly double the forecasts and the biggest debut in Amazon MGM Studios’ history. It holds 95% positive reviews from 430 critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 77 on Metacritic, and audiences gave it an A CinemaScore. Nicholas Barber of the BBC called it one of the best films of 2026, and Brian Truitt of USA Today gave it full marks and compared it to classic Spielberg. Owen Gleiberman of Variety was in the minority, finding it baggy and derivative.

Where to watch

The film has been streaming on Prime Video since 3 July and was released on 4K and Blu-ray in August. Cast and stills are on the film’s page in our AMDB database.