Ryan Gosling’s 94% RT Sci-Fi Sensation Outpaces Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ in Theaters

The domestic box office is taking a breather this week, with only a handful of smaller movies willing to take on next week's big release, Ryan Gosling's Project Hail Mary. Pixar's Hoppers will top the charts for the second time in a row, after delivering an encouraging opening last week. Meanwhile, best-selling author Colleen Hoover is looking to deliver her third hit in a row with the romance-drama movie Reminders of Him exceeding expectations. Elsewhere, A24's buzzy new horror offering, Undertone, is eying a top-five finish as well. Of these new releases, Reminders of Him has the largest theater count domestically; the movie is playing in more than 3,400 locations. But this is not nearly as wide a release as Amazon MGM is going to give Project Hail Mary.

The marketing for the sci-fi movie has already made it abundantly clear that it is a big-screen event, much like one of Christopher Nolan's films, or a Dune movie directed by Denis Villeneuve. An appropriate recent example would also be Ryan Coogler's Sinners, whose IMAX cinematography became one of its biggest selling points. Project Hail Mary is also being presented as an IMAX spectacle, and will play in the premium IMAX 70mm format as well. Domestically, the movie's theater count is larger than Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the James Bond film Spectre.


'Project Hail Mary' Is Already "Certified Fresh" On Rotten Tomatoes

According to The Numbers, Project Hail Mary will play in 4,000 locations next week, which happens to be a wider release than that of the 2023 concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. That word-of-mouth sensation bypassed a traditional distribution model and was released directly by AMC and Cinemark in the domestic market. At its peak, the concert film played in more than 3,800 theaters. It grossed nearly $270 million worldwide against a reported budget of $15 million. The barrier to success for Project Hail Mary is much higher. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and based on a best-selling book by "The Martian" author Andy Weir, the movie cost a reported $250 million to produce. It's expected to gross around $60 million in its domestic opening weekend, but this number might increase thanks to its excellent 94% Rotten Tomatoes score.