A week after “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners” and “KPop Demon Hunters” all prevailed  at the Academy Awards, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s “Project Hail Mary” created the biggest non-franchise opening weekend since “Oppenheimer.” In the first three months of 2026, the two biggest hits in theaters are ‘Hail Mary’ and the Pixar original “Hoppers.”

All of these successes came at a considerable expense. “Project Hail Mary,” based on the Andy Weir bestseller, cost around  $200 million to make. But its $80.5 million debut vindicated Amazon MGM’s big bet, and gave the studio its Biggest box-office hit yet.

“Project Hail Mary,” despite its title, isn’t anyone’s idea of a long shot. It stars one of the most widely liked actors, Ryan Gosling. Its source material, Weir’s novel, is beloved and it trades on much of the same science-first sci-fi appeal of 2015’s best picture-nominated “The Martian,” from an earlier book by Weir. Lord and Miller, the filmmakers of the “Spider-Verse” movies and “The Lego Movie,” have a long record of success with both audiences and critics.

Ever Since the movie debuted the charts for the movie have skyrocketed, some people even quoted ‘Project Hail Mary’ was the best sci-fi movie ever to come out.