TDP 1499: Project Hail Mary REVIEW

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Project Hail Mary is a 2026 science fiction film produced and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and written by Drew Goddard, based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Andy Weir. It stars Ryan Gosling, who also produced the film, as Ryland Grace, and Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, and Lionel Boyce play supporting roles. The story follows Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher who awakens aboard an interstellar spacecraft with no memory of how he got there.

Pre-production began in 2020, before Weir's novel was published. Filming took place throughout 2024 in the United Kingdom, both on location and on sets. All scenes aboard the spacecraft Hail Mary were filmed on a practical set that was constructed for the film.

Project Hail Mary premiered in London on March 9, 2026, and was released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on March 20, with Sony Pictures Releasing International releasing in other territories. It received positive reviews, with praise for Lord and Miller's direction, Gosling's performance, the character of Rocky, as well as the humor, themes and visuals. It was a commercial success, grossing over $685 million worldwide and becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2026.

Plot

In the near future, middle school teacher and former molecular biologist Ryland Grace wakes up from an induced coma on the interstellar spacecraft Hail Mary, suffering from amnesia. Grace learns that he is the sole survivor of a three-person crew that was traveling towards the Tau Ceti system, 11.9 light-years from Earth.

In a series of flashbacks, Grace recalls that scientists discovered a "Petrova line" of infrared light stretching from the Sun to Venus; an alien microbe in the line, dubbed "astrophage", was proliferating on the Sun's surface, dimming the Sun at a rate that would cause catastrophic global cooling within thirty years. The head of the Petrova Taskforce, Eva Stratt, recruited Grace to study it due to his background in speculative astrobiology. Grace experimented on a sample and discovered that astrophage was composed of unicellular organisms that absorb electromagnetic radiation from the Sun and expel it for propulsion.

Grace joined Stratt's Project Hail Mary, an international "long-shot" mission to send a crewed spacecraft to Tau Ceti, the only star in Earth's solar neighborhood not occluded by astrophage. The flight to Tau Ceti would be a suicide mission, as the ship could only carry enough fuel for a one-way trip; any findings would have to return to Earth in smaller space probes.

In the present, Grace encounters an alien spacecraft that docks with the Hail Mary. It is made of a solid form of xenon, which Grace dubs "xenonite". The ship's occupant is a rock-like, five-legged alien from Erid, a planet in the 40 Eridani A system. Grace names the alien "Rocky", deduces that Eridians "see" via echolocation, and creates a machine translation system to interpret Rocky's musical language into English. Rocky is a mechanical engineer and the sole survivor of the Eridians' mission to save their own star from astrophage infection. Grace and Rocky agree to work together, and become close friends. As neither can survive in the other's atmosphere, Rocky works aboard the Hail Mary inside a pressurized ball of xenonite.

Grace and Rocky study the Petrova line of the planet Tau Ceti e, which Grace names "Adrian",^[a] and discovers that the line hosts an entire microbial biosphere. Rocky theorizes that microbial organisms in Adrian's atmosphere are consuming the astrophage, keeping the population in check. Learning that Grace cannot return home, Rocky offers to share some of his own ship's astrophage fuel with the Hail Mary. Grace remembers that an astrophage explosion killed the original crew's science officers. With no time to train replacements, Stratt asked Grace to join the mission.

During a risky maneuver to gather the astrophage predator from Adrian's atmosphere, a fuel leak causes the Hail Mary to spin uncontrollably, rendering Grace unconscious. Rocky breaks out of his ball to save Grace but is severely injured. While Rocky recovers, Grace studies the captured astrophage predator, dubbing it "taumoeba"^[b] and selectively breeding it to survive the nitrogen in Venus's atmosphere. Rocky revives, and the two celebrate their success; Grace recalls that he fearfully refused to join the Hail Mary crew, but Stratt had him drugged and put aboard the ship anyway, believing he was the only one capable of completing the mission.

Rocky and Grace say their goodbyes and begin their journeys back home. Shortly thereafter, Grace discovers that the taumoeba has evolved to escape its xenonite breeding tanks and is starting to consume Hail Mary's astrophage fuel. Grace stops the taumoeba leak, but realizes that Rocky's ship, being entirely made of xenonite, will have no way to contain the taumoeba; it will eat all of Rocky's fuel, stranding him and dooming Erid. Grace decides to use his remaining fuel to rescue Rocky and the Eridians rather than return home, and sends his video logs and taumoeba samples to Earth via the probes.

Stratt and her team receive the probes and use the taumoeba to cure the Sun's astrophage infection. Meanwhile, on Erid, Grace lives in an Earth-like biodome the Eridians have constructed for him. Rocky informs him that Eridian scientists can prepare the Hail Mary for the return voyage to Earth. Grace ponders the news before beginning another day of teaching science to eager Eridian children.

Cast

Ryan Gosling, who portrays Dr. Ryland Grace, also served as a producer on the film

• Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist on a mission to save humanity^[7]
• Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt, the head of the international task force behind Project Hail Mary^[8]
• James Ortiz as Rocky, an alien Grace encounters on his journey.^[9] The character was effected through a puppet controlled by a team of five puppeteers led by Ortiz, dubbed the "Rockyteers", with Ortiz also providing the artificial voice assigned to him^[10]
  • Ortiz also has an uncredited role as a television presenter^[11]
• Lionel Boyce as Carl, a member of security personnel
• Ken Leung as Yao Li-Jie, the Chinese commander of the Hail Mary spacecraft
• Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina, a Russian engineer on board the Hail Mary
• Priya Kansara as the voice of Mary, the Hail Mary's onboard computer^[9]
• Malachi Kirby as Martin Dubois, the original scientist of the Hail Mary^[12]
• Liz Kingsman as Annie Shapiro, a backup scientist of the Hail Mary
• Mia Soteriou as Dr. Browne
• Orion Lee as Dr. Li
• Michelle Greenidge as Chimamanda

Additionally, Eunice Huthart (the film's stunt coordinator), Damien de Froberville (co-president of Sony Pictures Animation), Ray Porter (the audiobook narrator), and Meryl Streep provided the rejected alternative voices for Rocky.^[13][14]

Production

Development

In March 2020, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was nearing a deal to acquire adaptation rights to the then-upcoming Andy Weir novel Project Hail Mary (2021), with Ryan Gosling set to star in and produce the film.^[7] The rights for the novel were acquired for $3 million.^[15] In May 2020, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were hired to direct and produce the film.^[16] Due to Lord and Miller being unable to work on the screenplay because of commitments to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Drew Goddard (who previously adapted Weir's 2011 novel The Martian into a 2015 film) was hired the following month to write the screenplay.^[17][18] In April 2024, Amazon, which acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2022,^[19] revealed a possible 2026 release window for the film.^[20] In May 2024, Sandra Hüller joined the cast, with Greig Fraser hired as cinematographer.^[8] Milana Vayntrub joined the cast the following month.^[21]

Filming

The film's crew, actors Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller, writer Drew Goddard, author/producer Andy Weir, and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on February 25, 2026

Principal photography began on June 3, 2024, in the United Kingdom and wrapped on October 26, 2024.^[22][23] Filming took place at Shepperton Studios.^[24] Location filming occurred at The Hemel Hempstead School, the South Parade Pier in Portsmouth,^[25] the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory in Cambridge,^[26] and Durdle Door and Man o' War Cove in Dorset.^[27][28][29]

The film was "filmed for IMAX" by using large-sensor Arri Alexa 65 cameras, which provide 6.5K (20 MP) of resolution, with an aspect ratio of 2.1:1,^[30] utilizing the whole sensor with anamorphic lenses rotated by 90 degrees to achieve the IMAX standard 1.43:1 aspect ratio. For regular presentations, the common 2:1 format (Univisium) was derived by cropping the top and bottom of the IMAX image. The film switches between taller and wider aspect ratios. When a scene takes place in the present, a taller aspect ratio is used—1.43:1 for IMAX 15/70 mm or Dual Laser, 1.85:1 for Xenon or Single Laser, and 2.00:1 for non-IMAX presentations. For scenes in the past, an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, a standard ratio for anamorphic process cinematography, was achieved with the regular use of anamorphic lenses.^[31]

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Miller mentioned that no chroma keying was used in the film, with the entire set being shot practically.^[32] Fraser had previously collaborated with visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert on the Dune films; their disdain for green and blue screens, which impacts lighting and visuals through color spill, led them to use blackouts and grey screens on the film instead.^[33] Miller had previously stated that VFX was used to depict the spaceship from the outside, while shots of Gosling in space were shot against a black or varying color backdrop.^[34]

NASA provided support through both the input of scientific experts and astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren visiting Gosling during filming to share insights on human spaceflight.^[35]

Post-production

The visual effects were developed by Framestore (which also collaborated on the film adaptation of The Martian),^[36] Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Sony Pictures Imageworks, BUF and Wylie Co. VFX, with Mags Sarnowska serving as visual effects supervisor alongside Lambert.^[37]

While puppeteer Ortiz voiced Rocky during filming with Gosling, it was initially thought that a more high-profile actor would replace him. However, Lord and Miller felt that Ortiz's performance could not be improved upon during screenings of the film.^[38] Lord praised the collaboration between practical and visual effects in the creation of the character Rocky's performance:

Rocky was built and designed by the legendary Neal Scanlan and his creature shop and is performed by puppeteering legend James Ortiz and his team, who were on set with Ryan in every scene. Rocky's performance is a beautiful collaboration between James and the other Rockyteers on set and the wonderful animators at Framestore led by the funny soulful Arslan Elver.^[39]

Miller noted that by the end of the film shots with Rocky were about 50% VFX animation and 50% puppetry.^[40]

The digitally shot and produced film was transferred to film stock and then re-digitized to achieve the "warmth" of analog film.^[31] The initial test screening of the film was 3 hours and 45 minutes long, and was cut down to the final length due to feedback from the screenings.^[41] Joel Negron served as film editor.^[42]

Music

Main article: Project Hail Mary (soundtrack)

It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Daniel Pemberton would score the film. Pemberton worked with Lord and Miller on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its 2023 sequel, which they produced. This is the first film directed by Lord and Miller to not be scored by Mark Mothersbaugh.^[43]

The score, consisting of 38 tracks, was released digitally on March 20, 2026.^[44] The film also includes fourteen other songs, including "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles, "Two of Us" by the Beatles, "Rainbows" by Dennis Wilson and "Gracias a la vida" sung by Mercedes Sosa.^[45]

Marketing

The film's title on the marquee of Moreland Theater in Portland, Oregon in March 2026

The first trailer was released on June 30, 2025.^[46] It was the most-viewed trailer for any original film in the first week of its release, accumulating 400 million views globally.^[47] Lego released a model of the Hail Mary spacecraft on March 1, 2026, as part of the Lego Icons series.^[48]

Release

Theatrical

Project Hail Mary was released on March 20, 2026, in 4,007 theaters by Amazon MGM Studios in the United States and Canada, and Sony Pictures Releasing International in all other territories.^[5] It was also released in select IMAX theaters, with a 1.43:1 aspect ratio.^[c]

Home media

The film was released on digital streaming platforms on May 12, 2026.^[53] It began streaming on the MGM+ subscription streaming service and Prime Video on June 18 and July 3, respectively.^[54][55][56]

It was also released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 11, 2026, by Alliance Entertainment.^[57] Following the standard disc release will be an Amazon exclusive three-disc SteelBook gift set, scheduled for October 13.^[57] It will include a third disc with the film in its full 1.43:1 IMAX ratio, plus additional bonus material and a collectible booklet.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Box office

As of September 11, 2026 Project Hail Mary has grossed $344.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $341.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $685.3 million.^[4][5]

In the United States and Canada, Project Hail Mary was released on March 20, 2026, and was projected to gross $63–65 million in North America from 4,007 theaters in its opening weekend.^[58] Initially, publications estimated that the film would gross $45–55 million.^[59] After grossing $31 million on opening day, including $12 million in previews, the film debuted to $80.6 million in the United States and Canada,^[60] and $60.4 million overseas for a worldwide total of $141 million,^[61] becoming Amazon MGM Studios' biggest debut to date.^[60] In its second weekend, the film made $54.1 million (a drop of 32.8%), remaining in first.^[62] It was surpassed by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in its third weekend, grossing $31.7 million.^[63] In Japan, the film became the highest-grossing foreign film of 2026 in terms of box office revenue attendance on its first day of release.^[64]

Critical response

The performances of Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, and James Ortiz were praised by critics

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 430 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "A visually dazzling space odyssey that's carried along effortlessly by the gravitational pull of Ryan Gosling at his most winning, Project Hail Mary is a near-miraculous fusion of smarts and heart."^[65] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 60 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[66] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A" on an A+ to F scale.^[67] The film received an average rating of 8 out of 10 from Cine21.^[68]

G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle deemed it "a masterpiece of a family popcorn movie, with eye-popping hand-crafted production design and outstanding creature design and puppetry work."^[69] Randy Myers of The Mercury News gave the film a 3.5/4 rating, writing: "While you can't help but marvel at the visuals and applaud the commitment of Gosling's endearing performance, what also makes Project Hail Mary so gosh darn lovable is that it imbues us with child-like wonder from scenes that pay homage to such classics as E.T., Flight of the Navigator and, yes, Rocky."^[70]

Cosplay of Ryland Grace with a fan-created Rocky prop at NärCon 2026

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph concluded in his review: "Does it have many original ideas of its own? Perhaps not. But its greatest hits mixtape of other people's has been compiled with such flair – as well as a sound comprehension of why they worked so well the first time – that it's hard not to be swept up regardless."^[71] Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail shared a similar opinion, writing: "At almost every turn, Project Hail Mary attempts to convince you that it is groundbreaking, innovative filmmaking. But in actuality, the movie lands as a grand act of cinematic recycling – the fusing together of familiar, comforting bits and pieces into something determined to please crowds and warm hearts."^[72]

Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "While Stanley Kubrick's unsentimental 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired the iPad, Lord and Miller want to inspire a better version of us."^[73] Brian Truitt of USA Today gave the film a four out of four rating, writing that "Project Hail Mary is one of those old-school popcorn movies with big ideas, the kind of film that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas would have made back in the day and kids of all ages would have obsessed over and bought the toys."^[74] Ryan Cooper of The American Prospect wrote that the film portrayed a "shockingly realistic view of heroism" and was "one of the rare films that is quite a bit better than the book".^[75]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote: "Gosling is an effortlessly charming screen player, and he keeps it watchable, though the film itself has moments of dullness and a sort of puppyish silliness [...] Perhaps refreshingly, the film doesn't aim for the stunned awe and rapture of, say, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar or even Jon Spaihts' underrated Passengers, but it does have the classic sci-fi spacecraft tropes: the huge, mysterious architecture with its vertiginous tunnels in which legacy pop music is played to soothe the inhabitants."^[76] GVSU anthropology professor Deana L. Weibel praised Grace's intellectual humility in the film.^[77]

Nicholas Barber of the BBC declared it one of the best films of 2026, writing:

Project Hail Mary is an unusual science-fiction blockbuster in that it's mostly about people using their brains to solve problems [...] Does that approach sound a bit dry and academic? If so, rest assured that Project Hail Mary is touching and inspiring – and surprisingly fun [...] it's directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who take a complicated, potentially bleak narrative and make it as fast-paced and cheerful as their animated hit The Lego Movie. Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling brings all of his goofball charm to the role of an amnesiac biologist who is trying to save the world.^[78]

Conversely, Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it "not a very good movie", adding that "it's baggy and incredibly derivative of movies you've seen before [...] More crucially, everything to do with the onboard alien is far too cute and formulaic".^[79]