Project Hail Mary Box Office Officially Passes Christopher Nolan’s Magnum Opus With Major Milestone

Project Hail Mary is officially passing Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus at the box office.

Based on Andy Weir’s novel, the new sci-fi epic has easily become one of the most successful movies of the year after setting several box office records, including the biggest film debut in Amazon history with $80 million. It’s become an exciting success story for the studio that the theatrical window was extended due to the incredible response from moviegoers.

Despite nearly two months in theaters, Project Hail Mary is still making some box office surprises. According to Deadline, the 2026 epic film has now made over $330.95 million domestically, which is enough to surpass Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which made $330 million.

This is an incredible feat since Project Hail Mary had trailed behind the biopic just eight weeks ago. At the time, the new movie had the second-best domestic launch for a non-franchise movie, behind Oppenheimer‘s $82 million. Meanwhile, Project Hail Mary has just crossed $660 million globally, but it won’t dethrone Oppenheimer‘s worldwide total of $975 million.

Project Hail Mary‘s theatrical performance is coming to a near end, now that the epic is available on video-on-demand. Despite an expensive budget of $200 million, the sci-fi movie is, at this point, a guaranteed success as it has surpassed $500 million, which was what outlets reported was the break-even point. Additionally, Project Hail Mary is now the highest-grossing Weir movie after overtaking Ridley Scott’s The Martian at the box office, both domestically and worldwide.

The key reason for its commercial achievements comes down to the stellar reception. Project Hail Mary earned positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, with praise ranging from Ryan Gosling’s performance and breathtaking space visuals to the heartwarming story about an unconventional friendship with an alien Rocky.

As a result, word of mouth and social media boosted the movie’s box office performance and audience footprint in theaters. Project Hail Mary currently has a 94% rating and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, with the movie hitting the two-month mark, the box office is slowing down as new releases become available in theaters. Project Hail Mary is also expected to hit streaming on Prime Video very soon, but an exact date has yet to be revealed by Amazon. Although the new sci-fi epic can still increase its box office total and scrape through a few lingering records, the chances of passing $700 million are looking unlikely.

However, it’s not the end of Project Hail Mary‘s run. As the summer movie schedule rolls through, there will be conversations about the movie’s award potential, particularly in many technical areas. Meanwhile, Weir teased the potential for a Project Hail Mary sequel, telling ScreenRant that “Hopefully, in time, I’ve got bits and pieces of good ideas for sequels, but not enough to run with. If I’m going to sequel it, I want it to be good.“

On the other hand, directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have another Weir adaptation in stores with Artemis. Although it’d been in development for eight years, the filmmakers assured that the movie was still happening after they “figured out a way” to address the trick with the moon gravity “that wouldn’t cost a billion dollars.“

The sci-fi movie follows Gosling’s Ryland Grace, who is sent to outer space to save mankind in light of the Sun dying from an unknown microorganism. Along the journey, he comes across and befriends an alien, who also undergoes a similar mission. In addition to Gosling, the Project Hail Mary cast features Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, and Lionel Boyce. Drew Goddard worked on the screenplay.

Project Hail Mary is playing in theaters and is available for video-on-demand.

Release Date

March 15, 2026

Runtime

157 minutes

Director

Christopher Miller, Phil Lord

Writers

Drew Goddard, Andy Weir

Producers

Aditya Sood, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O’Connor, Ryan Gosling