SATURDAY AM: In what has been the best use of theatrical by a streamer so far, Amazon MGM Studio’s Project Hail Mary is answering exhibition’s prayers with a $77.1M weekend opening, nearing the record opening of a non-franchise/non-sequel movie after Oppenheimer ($82.4M). However, Project Hail Mary still needs to fly by I Am Legend ($77.2M, 2007). The Ryan Gosling starring, Lord and Miller directed, Amy Pascal produced movie is fueling a weekend that’s north of $143M for all titles, that’s +91% over the same period a year ago when Disney’s Snow White limped into theaters.
It is, indeed, rarefied air as only two non-franchise/non-sequel movies in the last decade have exceeded $60M opening weekends: Oppenheimer and Jordan Peele’s Us ($71M). Project Hail Mary is playing everywhere, but overindexing in the West, Mountain, Midwest and South. AMC Lincoln Square 13 in New York is the the movie’s top grossing site so far with $180.7K.
Diversity demos show 59% Caucasian, a solid 20% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Asian American, and 6% Black. Enormous definite recommends on Postrak with men over 25 (84%), women under and over 25 at 83%, and men under 25 at 81%. Slightly more guys than females as we noticed yesterday now at 57% to 43% women.
Imax and PLF tickets are repping a massive 56% of the weekend with Imax alone driving close to 24% of the gross.
Among those moviegoers who called out their streaming subscriptions: 68% said they’re Netflix subs, while 55% said they were Prime Members (why is that important, because of the movie’s marketing).
More, so much more…
UPDATED, Friday PM: Amazon MGM Studios‘ Project Hail Mary is shooting for a massive $31M today (including previews) and the best opening of 2026 so far with $71.1M at 4,007 runs. That’s also the best opening ever for an Amazon MGM Studios movie, ahead of Creed III‘s $58.3M back in 2023.
Matinees are good, and the Lord Miler-directed and produced movie is playing broad, we hear.
If those figures hold, it will tie with Jordan Peele’s Us ($71.1M, 2019) as the fourth-best opening for a non-franchise title after Oppenheimer ($82.4M, 2023), I Am Legend ($77.2M, 2007) and once upon a time (before it was a franchise), Avatar ($77M, 2009).
Social media monitor RelishMix says the half-billion-plus social media universe is beaming, “with the loudest applause coming from book loyalists who see a rare crowd-pleaser with brains, heart and actual theatrical pull. Ryan Gosling gets treated like premium packaging for a smart sci-fi ride. The sharpest upside is comparison heat: this is being framed as better than recent Star Trek, stronger than The Martian for some, and even in the neighborhood of Rendezvous with Rama. Trailer beats spark genuine hype, even when viewers clock changes from the page. You can feel the audience wanting this one to land. ‘Hail Mary was so much better than The Martian‘ and ‘This looks a lot better than Star Trek‘ capture the mood, while translated reactions like ‘Wow, the movie of the book I loved is out’ and ‘Amaze, amaze, amaze.’”
RELATED: All The Songs In ‘Project Hail Mary’: From Harry Styles To Neil Diamond
The 520.8M filled social media universe across Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram is running 63% ahead of first pic sci-fi norms, and it’s also not that far from Dune: Part Two‘s 575.7M followers before opening. Of note in regards to the cast who is on social, Milana Vayntrub is contributing 1.92M followers.
Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton in ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come‘
Pief Weyman/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures
RELATED: ‘Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come’ Leaves SXSW Cheering & Gasping At World Premiere
Searchlight’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is looking like $3.8M today (including previews on its way to a potential $10M in fourth place at 3,010 sites. The sequel was made for less than $20M net, we hear. It’s being pushed out of third place by Hindi action sequel Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which is eyeing a great $3.6M today at 967 locations and $12.7M opening and 4-day cume north of $16M. Disney is doing better in second place, where Pixar’s Hoppers is still vibrant with $5.6M today and $21M in its third weekend for a running total by EOD Sunday of $123.3M. Fifth place goes to the second weekend of Universal’s feature take of Colleen Hoover’s Reminders of Him at 3,441 sites with a second Friday of $2.7M, 3-day of $8.7M, -52%, and 10-day cume of $33.8M.
UPDATED, Friday AM: Previews came in at $12 million for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary. Again, that’s an all-in previews figure, not just Thursday night.
All records listed below still stand from last night’s reporting. In addition, the Amazon MGM Studios movie scored the second-best previews ever for a non-sequel, non-franchise, after 2017’s It which did $13.5M. It also beats the previews of some big movies like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning ($8.3M) and Gladiator II ($6.3M). Buckle up, it’s going to be a fun weekend at the B.O. Project Hail Mary is booked at 4,000 sites including all Imax, PLFs, etc.
In Thursday night Posttrak exits from Screen Engine and Comscore, 61% men showed up and 39% women with 5 stars (as we told you last night), 95% positive score and a massive 85% definite recommend. Fifty six percent previously bought tickets. Fifty-nine percent were between ages 18-34.
RELATED: The 60 Movies That Have Made More Than $1 Billion At The Global Box Office
In addition, Searchlight’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come did $1.2M in previews with a 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. The pic is booked in 3,010 theaters including 310 PLF and 150 motion seats. Comps are The Monkey ($1.9M, $14M opening), A Knock on the Cabin ($1.5M, $14.1M opening), Primate ($1.4M, $11.2M opening) and Radio Silence’s own Abigail ($1M, $10.3M opening). The first Ready or Not opened to $8M in 2019 and did $28.7M at the domestic B.O, and $57.6M global off a $6M net production cost.
‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’
Moviegoers Entertainment
Also bound to be big this weekend is Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar: The Revenge with an expected weekend of $10M-plus. Pic scored the biggest opening day of all-time for a Hindi movie in North America with $3.9M yesterday. The pic is a sequel to last year’s Dhurandhar, which as the highest grossing Bollywood film of all-time in North American with over $20M (and that was off a $1.98M 3-day). That pic is currently available to watch on Netflix worldwide. In part two, Hamza Ali Mazari, whose real identity is Jaskirat Singh Rangi, pursues his undercover operation within Pakistan’s criminal world while tracking down Majo.
The top 5 for the week:
1.) Hoppers (Dis) 4,000 theaters, Wk $44M (-25%), Total $102.3M/Wk 2
2.) Reminders of Him (Uni) 3,402 theaters, Wk $25.1M/Wk 1
3.) Scream 7 (Par) 3,243 theaters, Wk $12M (-46%), Total $110.2M/Wk 3
4.) undertone (A24) 2,570 theaters, $11.7M/Wk 1
5.) GOAT (Sony) 2,946 theaters, Wk $8.1M (-6%), Total $94M/Wk 5
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, Thursday PM: A non-franchise movie is making waves at the box office and we’re talking about Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary.
Sources tell us that the previews for the Phil Lord- and Christopher Miller-directed sci-fi production are north of $11 million, which takes us to an upper stratosphere that’s ahead of another non-franchise movie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer ($10.5M). It’s also ahead of all the comps for original pics that many tracking services were pegging it to: F1 ($10M previews), Sinners ($4.7M) and Weapons ($5.7M). Project Hail Mary is based on Andy Weir’s 2021 New York Times bestseller.
In terms of the previews rollout, Amazon MGM Studios had 29 70M shows last weekend (single shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday), followed by Prime member screenings Monday in PLFs and Imax, as well as tonight’s shows.
Before we bury the lede even further, by golly, it’s the best previews so far in 2026, ahead of Scream 7‘s $7.8M ($63.6M opening). Tracking in recent days raised the weekend forecast to north of $60M. Let’s not be over-bullish just yet, because the opening range between F1 and Oppenheimer was $57M-$82.4M. We’re also hearing the production from Amy Pascal, Ryan Gosling, Rachel O’Connor, Andy Weir and Aditya Sood landed 5 stars on tonight’s PostTrak.
In addition, Project Hail Mary reps the best previews ever for an Amazon MGM Studios release, ahead of Creed III ($5.4M, which turned in a three-day total of $58.3M, best domestic start ever for the shopping site-streamer-theatrical embracer). It’s also arguably the second-best previews ever for a Gosling movie behind Barbie ($22.3M).
The best opening for a non-franchise movie belongs to Oppenheimer ($82.4M), followed by I Am Legend ($77.2M); like Project Hail Mary, the latter was based on a novel.
Talk to anybody in distribution, and the exclamation is “this is good for the business,” read, a non-franchise title breaking out and finding a mass audience.
