Original stories finding their way to the big screen are thriving at the early 2026 box office.
Defying all the odds, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, blasted off with a domestic launch of $80.6 million — the best of the year so far — and $60.4 million overseas for a worldwide galactic start of $141 million in a notable win for Amazon MGM Studios‘ as it tries once again to become a full-fledged major Hollywood studio.
MGM’s successful handling of the film couldn’t be more perfect in its timing as David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance prepares to merge with Warner Bros., a deal that has left Hollywood reeling over massive job losses and concern over fewer movies getting made that stray outside the bounds of proven properties.
Then comes along Hail Project Mary, which joins Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in becoming only the second non-sequel or non-franchise installment of the past decade to open to $80 million or more domestically.
In addition to Gosling, Sandra Hüller also stars in Lord and Miller’s sci-fi epic based on the Andy Weir novel about a science teacher who finds an unusual ally in a mission to save two worlds.
Project Hail Mary was looking at a debut of $50 million-plus heading into the weekend, but quickly went into hyperdrive when both critics and audiences embraced the warm-hearted, adventure-action movie with rave reviews and out-of-this-world audience polls — including an A CinemaScore, near-perfect PostTrak exits and a 96 audience ranking on Rotten Tomatoes (the critics score is 95 percent).
After Project Hail Mary and Oppenheimer, the next-biggest opening for a non-sequel or franchise installment has opened to $60 million or more domestically; Us ($71 million). And excluding those three titles, only two such movies have opened to $50 million or more in the post-pandemic era; Apple’s F1: The Movie and It Ends With Us.
“Openings like this is what makes this business special. “You could feel how big this film was going to be with the rave reviews from the early screenings and massive presales. Congrats to everyone to who was involved in making this film,” said Amazon MGM domestic distribution chief Kevin Wilson. “And it leaves no doubt that Ryan Gosling is a singular star that has the massive global appeal and charisma to anchor a story like this.”
Or, as summed up by THR‘s review, “Ryan Gosling proves he can have chemistry with a rock in thrilling space odyssey warmed by humanity and hope.”
The movie also opened in 82 markets around the globe, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Korea, Japan and China. Until MGM builds out its own international distribution system — believe it or not, that is what separates a major Hollywood studio from other companies, such as Lionsgate, or MGM before it was purchased by Amazon.
Originality is becoming a major talking point of the early 2026 box office. Pixar, the storied animation studio that built its brand on telling stories that could play across generations, hit a rough patch in recent times, but its new movie Hoppers has seemingly broken the curse. After three weekends, it has become the top-grossing Hollywood film at the global box office with $242.6 million in ticket sales through Sunday. It is also the top-grossing film domestically, animated or otherwise, after earning another $18 million in its third outing for a cume of $120.4 million.
That’s not to say franchises were AWOL entirely from the weekend.
Another strong new player of the weekend is Dhurandhar: The Revenge, the latest installment in the Indian action-thriller starring Ranveer Singh. The pic overperformed to come in in third with north of $10 million.
And Searchlight Pictures’ horror-comedy Ready or Not 2: Here I Come placed fourth in its North American launch with an estimated $9.1 million for an early global start of $11.9 million after rolling out in its first handful of major markets. The film, directed by filmmaking duo Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett), stars Samara Weaving, reprising her role as the fan-favorite Grace.
Ready or Not 2 received solid reviews and a B+ CinemaScore iAn North also launched in its first handful of major markets overseas, including the U.K., Australia and Brazil. It will be playing almost everywhere by mid-April.