411 Box Office Report: Project Hail Mary Dominates With $80 Million Start

We have the first official blockbuster megahit of 2026 as Project Hail Mary soared its way to the top of the box office. Amazon MGM’s sci-fi film scored a huge $80.6 million start to blow away the competition, easily claiming #1. That marks the highest box office start of 2026 by a large margin, blasting past Scream 7’s $63.6 million start earlier this month.

The launch marks a major overperformance for the film, which has risen its prospects to the mid-$60 million range going into the weekend. It soon became obvious that the Ryan Gosling-led film was going to do well better than that, and it kept beating new expectations day by day to land where it did. This is the best start for an Amazon MGM film to date and the second-best ever for a non-franchise movie, behind only Oppenheimer which launched to the tune of $82.4 million thanks in part to the Barbenheimer hype.

Project Hail Mary was always expected to be a good opener, but the hype grew considerably over the past couple of weeks. Notably, the reviews factored into the positive buzz in a big way. The film has a 95% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes and enthusiastic praise has been the norm. Audiences love it too with a 96% RT audience score and the coveted A CinemaScore, which contributed to its strong holds day to day.

It should be noted that Hail Mary is expensive, with a production budget that is believed to be around $190 million. But Amazon is ecstatic with this result, and it should be able to handle decent week-to-week holds even with the opening weekend overperformance. The film is playing well with families, which should help significantly, and it’s off to a decent start overseas with $60.4 million for a $141 million worldwide start. If it hangs on well, it could easily reach $250 million in the US, which would be enough to be a big hit when worldwide totals are factored in. Chalk this up as a big win for the studio.

Pixar’s Hoppers held on well in its third weekend as it weathered the Hail Mary storm. The animated film was off just 37% in its third weekend to bring in $18 million. As of now, the film is sitting at $120.4 million in the US and $242.6 million worldwide against a $150 million production budget. It continues to look strong and will close with at least $150 million in the US, enough to be considered a bounce back for the animation house.

We had a record set at #3 as Dhurandhar: The Revenge laid claim to $9.5 million. That marks the highest domestic opening weekend for a Bollywood film, topping Pathaan which opened to $6.9 million in January of 2023.

Indian cinema has been a reliable niche in North America, adding extra money to their high grosses overseas. This is a new escalation, with the action thriller taking advantage of a lack of action competition. Distributor Moviegoers Entertainment did a targeted marketing campaign as is typical, but the film was able to reach past its core audience to being in some extra audience members. The film initially opened on Wednesday and has a five-day total of $13.5 million. International numbers aren’t yet in, but while it will likely fall quickly as is normal for niche markets it should be nicely profitable for the studio.

Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come was a minor disappointment, opening to $9.1 million. That is slightly below the $10 million that analysts were projecting for it. The sequel to the horror comedy opened slightly above last year’s horror romcom Heart Eyes, which launched to $8.3 million in February.

It should be noted that while it’s become a favorite among genre fans, Ready Or Not was not a massive hit when it first hit theaters. The original took in $8 million in August or 2019 and ended with $28.7 million domestically and $57.6 million worldwide. It was a hit because the budget was low at just $6 million and found its biggest audience after on home viewing.

Here I Come may have the same path, though it should also be said that the film was more expensive with a $14 million budget. Critics liked it well enough with a 76% RT aggregate (compared to 89% for the original), and audiences are fully on board with an 89% RT audience rating and B+ CinemaScore. Ready Or Not’s audience metrics are 78% on RT and a B+.

This film’s success margins will depend on how well the legs hold up. The first film had a good second weekend hold, boosted by the Labor Day weekend, before falling like a horror film tends to do. If Here I Come can manage decent holds then it should be able to land at around the same numbers domestically, about $27 million to $30 million. Overseas it’s off to a quiet start with $2.9 million, but that’s only in 21 markets with several big ones to go including Mexico, Canada, India, and most European markets. In the end this will probably be a success, though it might not be as big of one as Searchlight Pictures was hoping for.

Reminders Of Him had an entirely expected second weekend drop as it shed 56% of its opening numbers for $8 million. Yes, that is higher than the drop for fellow Colleen Hoover adaptation Regretting You, but that film also opened lower and didn’t overperform like this one did. Reminders Of Him now stands at $33.2 million stateside and $54 million worldwide, meaning that it’s already heading toward profit at a $25 million budget. It is still looking on course for around $50 million to $55 million by the time it closes domestically.

Scream 7 was down 50%, a solid hold considering the new competition, to bring in $4.3 million in its fourth weekend. The polarizing entry in the franchise is now the highest grossing Scream film by any metric with $114.5 million in the US and $193.8 million worldwide, easily set to be the first-ever $200 million worldwide-grossing Scream. It’s a major hit for Paramount Pictures against a $45 million budget. Ghostface will be back.

GOAT continues to do well week-to-week as it added $3.5 million, a drop of just 25% in its sixth frame. The Sony Pictures Animation film has $97.5 million domestically and $174.5 million worldwide against an $80 million budget. It’s well positioned for profit and will finish out around $110 million in the US.

Undertone dropped as expected, with the A24 horror film off 67% to $3 million. We knew this would happen; it’s a hyped-up horror film that is proving a bit divisive with audiences for being so — well, such an A24-style horror film. The movie has $15.2 million domestically so far with no overseas receipts yet, as it hasn’t much released across the pond (the UK release comes in April). It’s profitable against a $500,000 production budget, even with A24 having paid seven figures for it. It will close around $20 million, more than enough.

Wuthering Heights finally dropped hard, down 71% in its fifth weekend to $475,000. The literary adaptation has grossed $83.3 million stateside and $234.4 million worldwide, profitable against an $80 million budget with a likely final number around $87 million in the States.

Avatar: Fire & Ash slipped back into the top 10 for one more week, even as it slipped 42% to $280,000. That’s thanks to the hard falls of The Bride!, I Can Only Imagine 2, Send Help, and EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert this weekend. Fire & Ash has $403.9 million domestically and $1.486 billion worldwide and, it goes without saying, is a hit.

Project Hail Mary will remain on top with ease, as the only new wide release is Warner Bros.’ bloody action comedy They Will Kill You which is targeting around $6 million to $7 million. Universal is giving The Mummy Returns a re-release and IFC is dropping horror comedy Forbidden Fruits, both of which should land in the very low single digits.

Box Office Top Ten (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)

1. Project Hail Mary – $80.6 million ($80.6 million total, $141 million WW)
2. Hoppers – $18 million ($120.4 million total, $242.6 million WW)
3. Dhurandhar The Revenge – $9.6 million ($13.5 million total, $13.5 million WW)
4. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come – $9.1 million ($9.1 million total, $11.9 million WW)
5. Reminders Of Him – $8 million ($33.2 million total, $54 million WW)
6. Scream 7 – $4.3 million ($114.5 million total, $193.8 million WW)
7. GOAT – $3.5 million ($97.5 million total, $174.5 million WW)
8. Undertone – $3 million ($15.2 million total, $15.2 million total WW)
8. Wuthering Heights – $475,000 ($83.3 million total, $234.4 million WW)
10. Avatar: Fire & Ash – $280,000 ($403.9 million total, $1.486 billion WW)