Nearly a year ago, Amazon’s top film executive, Courtenay Valenti, took the stage in Las Vegas at an annual meeting for theater owners and promised them 14 movies a year. It was a bold proposition, far more than the company had previously committed, and the theater executives hailed it as the kind of commitment that could help their struggling businesses.
There has just one problem: The movies so far have not attracted many theatergoers. “After the Hunt” with Julia Roberts, “Mercy” with Chris Pratt, and “Crime 101” with Chris Hemsworth all performed far below expectations.
But that changed this weekend, with the debut of “Project Hail Mary,” a $195 million space odyssey starring Ryan Gosling. The film will generate an estimated $77.1 million in North America in its first three days of release, according to a representative for Amazon MGM Studios, putting it on pace to easily be the company’s highest-grossing domestic film. It is also now one of only two nonsequel, nonfranchise films in the past 10 years to exceed $70 million on its opening weekend. “Oppenheimer” is the other.
“This is evidence of our strategy, which is to make big, bold entertaining commercial films,” Ms. Valenti said in an interview. She noted that 2025 was “a clarion call’ for original storytelling, such as the live-action blockbuster “Sinners,” which grossed $280 million domestically and won four Academy Awards. “Audiences are unbelievably excited by original storytelling that is executed incredibly well,” she added.
“This is clearly the biggest bet that Amazon has made, and our expectation is that they’ve hit it out of the park,” said Adam Aron, AMC’s chief executive.
In 2020, before Amazon acquired MGM, the studio bought the rights to “Project Hail Mary,” a novel by Andy Weir, the author of “The Martian,” before the book’s debut. The book, which became a best seller, centers on a relationship between a reluctant hero and a faceless alien made of rocks. Mr. Gosling came with the package, already on board to produce and star.
The company quickly got Drew Goddard, the screenwriter of “The Martian,” to adapt the book. Amazon then hired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directing team behind “The Lego Movie” and “21 Jump Street” to direct.
Movies based on original ideas are always a risky venture. Studios prefer to invest their money in established franchises with built-in audiences. Popular books can often help hedge those risks but only if they are executed correctly. In the case of “Project Hail Mary,” the sprawling nearly 500-page novel filled with detailed imaginary science fiction was compelling, but it was by no means a slam dunk.
“There’s risk in putting a movie of this size, an original, out into the marketplace,” said Ms. Valenti. “Yet this was one that was undeniable. It needed to be made and we had to make it. It was that good.”
Richard Gelfond, the chief executive of IMAX, said the presales for “Project Hail Mary” tracked similar to those of “Dune: Part Two” and “Superman.”
“It’s a big swing, but we’re seeing original storytelling with ‘ya gotta see it in theaters’ spectacle connect at the box office,” said Mr. Gelfond. “I think Amazon sees the potential for this film to put them on the blockbuster map and jump start moviegoing for 2026.”
Mr. Gelfond and Mr. Aron believe “Project Hail Mary” could be the start of a strong run for theatrical films this year. And they need it. Just as the theater business was starting to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, they faced a dearth of new films because the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 shut down production for six months. At the same time, studios began shortening the time between when a film is in theaters and when it hits a streaming service, giving audiences even less incentive to pay for a ticket.
Recently, theaters have received some good news: Universal Pictures announced last week that it would now guarantee that its theatrical films would stay in theaters exclusively for at least five weekends. In January, that number will grow to seven. And Paramount Pictures, which is trying to acquire Warner Bros., says its films will remain in theaters for 45 days.
To Amazon, it’s the start of what it hopes will be a very successful run of movies. In May, the Hugh Jackman-starring film “The Sheep Detectives” will open. In June, Mattel’s “Masters of the Universe” debuts. The studio also has a Colleen Hoover adaptation in the works, “Verity,” scheduled for October. And what could be an awards contender, “I Play Rocky” from the “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly, takes a look at the behind-the-scenes drama over the production of Sylvester Stallone’s breakout role.
Those watching are optimistic. Mr. Aron said that he recently spent time with Amazon’s senior leadership team and that he was shown their slate of movies for the foreseeable future. “It’s a great slate, one really strong movie after another,” he said. “I think Amazon MGM is going to be a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood over the next three years.”
Nicole Sperling covers Hollywood and the streaming industry. She has been a reporter for more than two decades.
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