Amazon MGM finally has its statement box office hit as it begins its run as a full-time theatrical film distributor with Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s “Project Hail Mary.” Riding excellent word-of-mouth from critics and audiences alike, the film is projected for an $80.5 million domestic opening from 4,007 locations.
Based on Andy Weir’s 2021 sci-fi novel of the same name, “Project Hail Mary” may not be an original film, but it stands as the second highest opening weekend for a non-franchise or sequel film in the past decade. Only the $82 million launch of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed “Oppenheimer” is greater, and “Project Hail Mary” might be able to top it if Sunday matinee grosses beat projections.
The reception scores for “Project Hail Mary” are what every Hollywood exec dreams of, including an A on CinemaScore and a 97% Rotten Tomatoes audience rating. With this sort of start, it is almost certain that the film will have a domestic box office run of at least $250 million.
For recent comps, another sci-fi hit, Warner Bros./Legendary’s “Dune: Part Two,” opened to $82.5 million and legged out to a $282 million domestic run from its March 2024 release. On the high end, there’s “Oppenheimer,” which grossed $330 million with a 100+ day theatrical window in 2023.
However far it runs, “Project Hail Mary” is a big win for Amazon MGM after the lackluster box office runs of “Mercy” and “Crime 101” to start their 2026 theatrical campaign. After acquiring MGM with its catalog and distribution network in 2021, Amazon has built up to 2026 being the first year in which it releases a full slate of wide theatrical films, with movies like “Masters of the Universe” and “Verity” among the titles coming up in the months ahead.
With Hollywood in the midst of a consolidation wave that threatens to throttle the supply of major films, theaters are looking to newer players like Amazon MGM to fill in the gap. “Project Hail Mary” proves that the studio can do just that, delivering the spring hit that the box office needs to sustain itself.
In second on the charts is Disney/Pixar’s “Hoppers” with an $18 million third weekend, continuing its solid run as an original animated offering. With a $9.6 million opening in China this weekend, the film now stands at $120 million domestic and $242.6 million worldwide.
While “Hoppers” will likely fall short of the $494.5 million global total of Pixar’s “Elemental” to become the highest grossing original animated film of this decade, it should pass that film’s $154 million domestic total and serve as a modest hit for Pixar after “Elio” misfired last summer.
In third is the Hindi action thriller “Dhurandhar: The Revenge,” which opened to $9.5 million from just 987 locations. including the film’s opening on Thursday, the second half of Aditya Dhar’s spy duology has earned $13.5 million, putting it well on course to pass the $19.7 million U.S. total of the first “Dhurandhar” last year and making it the latest example of Indian imports serving as a cornerstone of the American specialty market alongside concert and franchise anime films.
Just behind “Dhurandhar” is Searchlight’s “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” with a $9.1 million opening from 3,010 locations. It’s an opening just above the $8 million start earned by the first “Ready or Not” in 2019 and has generally pleased fans of the original with its extremely gory mayhem, earning a B+ on CinemaScore, 4/5 on PostTrak and an 89% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
It’s worth noting that female horror fans who have shown up in droves to movies like the “Scream” revival also turned up for this slasher starring Samara Weaving, as the opening weekend crowd was 52% women.
Completing the top 5 is another female-driven film: Universal’s “Reminders of Him,” which made $8 million in its second weekend for a 10-day domestic total of $33.1 million. By comparison, the last Colleen Hoover adaptation in theaters, Paramount’s “Regretting You,” had a 10-day total of $27.2 million.
Among other holdovers, Paramount’s “Scream 7” made $4.3 million for a $114.5 million domestic and $193.8 million global total after four weekends. Sony Animation’s “Goat” nears the $100 million domestic mark with $3.4 million for a $97.5 million domestic, $175 million global total after six weekends; and A24’s microbudget horror acquisition “Undertone” added $3 million for a $15.2 million two-weekend total.
In the No. 9 spot on the charts is Viva Kids’ “The Pout-Pout Fish,” an indie family animated movie that is set to earn $1.5 million from 1,854 locations, an improvement on the $1.1 million 4-day opening earned by the distributor’s MLK weekend offering, “Charlie the Wonderdog.” Based on Deborah Diesen’s children’s book and starring Nick Offerman and Amy Sedaris, “The Pout-Pout Fish has a 69% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Finally, the newest Best Picture Oscar winner “One Battle After Another,” which has been available to stream on HBO Max since this past December, screened in 915 theaters this weekend and made approximately $196,000. The thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Chase Infiniti has grossed $72.8 million domestic and $211 million worldwide, making it by far the highest grossing film ever for director Paul Thomas Anderson.
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