'Project Hail Mary' flies to $54.5 million second weekend, horror reaches a saturation point

Ryan Gosling poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of the film 'Project Hail Mary' on Monday, March 9, 2026, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK — “Project Hail Mary” stayed aloft in its second weekend, holding strongly with US$54.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, and adding to the long-term prospects of the year’s biggest hit thus far.

The Phil Lord and Chris Miller sci-fi adventure, starring Ryan Gosling, dipped only 32 per cent after notching the best non-franchise opening weekend since 2023’s “Oppenheimer.” Amazon MGM’s yet, “Project Hail Mary” has grossed US$300.8 million worldwide in two weeks.

“Project Hail Mary,” which cost nearly US$200 million to produce, didn’t face any significant new competition and kept premium format screens largely to itself. Potentially the weekend’s most watched movie, the KPop documentary “BTS: The Return,” went straight to streaming on Netflix.

But “Project Hail Mary” is on an enviable trajectory. Its second weekend hold was even better than that of “Oppenheimer,” which collected US$46.7 million in its follow-up frame.

Meanwhile, the weekend’s top new release, “They Will Kill You,” debuted with a disappointing US$5 million for Warner Bros. The gory R-rated horror film stars Zazie Beetz as a woman who applies to be a maid at an apartment complex where she’s to become a sacrificial offering.

While the result was far from catastrophic for a movie with a modest US$20 million budget, it did suggest that theaters may have become oversaturated in horror. David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe, noted that there has been a new horror film released every weekend for the last 14 weekends.

That included last week’s “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” (US$16.3 million domestically so far) and a second horror-comedy that also debuted this weekend. IFC’s “Forbidden Fruits,” about a coven of witches who work at a Texas mall, debuted with US$1.2 million in sales.

Despite the glut, Gross is forecasting horror films will account for about US$2.1 billion in North American ticket revenue in 2026, down from US$2.75 million last year. While horror remains popular with audiences and relatively cheap to produce, the genre may be approaching overkill.

Meanwhile, family movies continue to thrive. The Pixar original “Hoppers” remained in second place with US$12.2 million in its fourth weekend. The Walt Disney Co. release has accumulated US$297.6 million globally.

Next weekend, though, it will face stiff competition in Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” It’s expected to have the biggest opening of 2026.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Project Hail Mary,” US$54.5 million.

2. “Hoppers,” US$12.2 million.

3. “They Will Kill You,” US$5 million.

4. “Dhurandhar The Revenge,” US$4.8 million.

5. “Reminders of Him,” US$4.7 million.

6. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” US$4 million.

7. “Scream 7,” US$2.6 million.

8. “GOAT,” US$2.2 million.

9. “Undertone,” US$1.7 million.

10. “Forbidden Fruits,” US$1.2 million.

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press