Amazon MGM Studios' Project Hail Mary is tracking for a strong $50 million debut in North America when it opens on March 20. The sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling also competes with Searchlight's Ready or Not 2, projected at $11 million. Both films arrive during a peak spring break weekend.
Amazon MGM Studios' $150 million production Project Hail Mary has generated early buzz, with tracking estimates pointing to a $50 million opening in North America on March 20. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and produced by Amy Pascal, the film stars Ryan Gosling as a high school science teacher thrust into space to address a deteriorating galaxy. It appeals broadly, showing strength with both men and women, and its first-choice awareness exceeds initial figures for Oppenheimer, F1 the Movie, and Weapons. Described as the first four-quadrant movie since Avatar: Fire and Ash, Project Hail Mary adapts the 2021 bestselling novel by Andy Weir, author of The Martian. That 2015 film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, opened to $54.3 million domestically and earned $228.4 million in the U.S. and $630.6 million worldwide.
The studio screened the 2-hour-36-minute sci-fi epic to press on Thursday night at the TCL Chinese Theater, where it received great applause. Only 87 films have opened above $40 million domestically, with just seven non-sequels achieving that mark, including Oppenheimer and It Ends With Us.
Sharing the March 20 release date is Searchlight's Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet of Radio Silence. The sequel to the 2019 horror hit stars returning lead Samara Weaving as Grace, now facing a deadly game involving Illuminati characters, alongside Nestor Carbonell, Shawn Hatosy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, and Kathryn Newton. It tracks for over $11 million, with strongest interest from men over 25 and women under 25. The original debuted to $8 million in late August 2019, finishing at $28 million domestically and $57.1 million worldwide on a $6 million budget, achieving a 3.5x multiple.
The date falls during peak spring break, with 38% of K-12 schools and 37% of colleges out, per Comscore, ahead of the Easter frame on April 3-5. Searchlight plans a world premiere at SXSW in Austin on March 13, following early screenings that signal positive word-of-mouth.
