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The Ryan Gosling-led “Project Hail Mary” opens this weekend, riding on the high of strong reviews and high projections.
Now, Variety reports that the film is targeting a domestic launch of around $63-65 million, the biggest opening to date for an Amazon MGM Studios title – beating the previous $58 million record held by “Creed III” .
“Project Hail Mary” is coming off a $200 million budget, meaning it needs to earn at least $500 million at the box-office to break even if it were conventional film. Amazon MGM says that its titles boost subscriptions and viewership on Prime Video and so the metrics are a little different.
It comes as a much needed win for the studio which has had some modest hits like “Challengers,” “Air,” “The Accountant 2” and “Red One” – several of those didn’t quite make enough to justify their budgets.
More recently “Crime 101” sadly failed to take off, “After the Hunt” was an infamous bomb, while the “Melania” documentary – despite doing well for a doco – was seen as a flop mostly due to its high budget.
The concern is that too many more fizzers and Amazon may pull back from theatrical in the way that Apple did following disappointments like “Argylle”. In 2025, Apple only had one film in cinemas with “F1” and has nothing slated for this year. Thus, “Project Hail Mary” needs to do well.
Other big plays for the studio are the “Masters of the Universe” this Summer, the cost-effective psychosexual thriller “Verity” starring Anne Hathaway, anjd the drama “I Play Rocky”.
The post “Project Hail Mary” Set For Strong Debut appeared first on Dark Horizons.
