'Project Hail Mary' Is Poised to Become a Big Hit

After its first evening at the box office, Project Hail Mary isn’t looking like a Hail Mary at all. It’s looking like a sure thing. The Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi film, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, earned $12 million in previews over the past few days, making it the highest-grossing preview total of 2026 by far as well as one of the highest-grossing ever for a non-franchise film. The $12 million in previews (which basically includes all public screenings before the official opening day of March 20) beats Scream 7′s $7.8 million in previews earlier this month, which was previously the best of the year so far. That went on to make about $64 million over its first weekend, which is well ahead of Project Hail Mary‘s early estimates. A very good sign. The $12 million is also the second best ever for a “non-sequel, non-franchise,” according to Deadline. That record still belongs to the first It film, which grossed $13.5 million in previews. Like Project Hail Mary, It was also based on a popular book. And, since that opening, It went on to become its own franchise. We’ll see if that happens for the Andy Weir adaptation. Compared to other well-known non-sequel, non-franchise openin