Original Films Make Strong Comeback as ‘Project Hail Mary’ Scores Big Opening

Ryan Gosling's new sci-fi film 'Project Hail Mary' earned $80.5 million in its opening weekend, marking the largest non-franchise debut since 'Oppenheimer.' The success highlights Hollywood's recent trend toward original content over sequels and reboots.

NEW YORK (AP) — While sequel-driven blockbusters have controlled Hollywood’s box office for years, original films are experiencing a notable resurgence that’s becoming impossible to ignore.

Following last week’s Academy Awards where ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners,’ and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ all claimed victories, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ achieved the strongest opening weekend for a non-franchise film since ‘Oppenheimer.’ During the initial quarter of 2026, both this movie and Pixar’s original production ‘Hoppers’ have emerged as the year’s top-performing theatrical releases.

These victories came with significant financial investments. Amazon MGM spent approximately $200 million producing ‘Project Hail Mary,’ adapted from Andy Weir’s popular novel, but the film’s $80.5 million opening weekend justified the studio’s substantial gamble and delivered their biggest box office success to date.

‘They made a tremendous investment and it’s going to pay off,’ Lord said in an interview alongside Miller last week. ‘How exciting to reward the people that took a shot.’

Despite its name, ‘Project Hail Mary’ wasn’t considered a risky venture. The film features Ryan Gosling, one of Hollywood’s most beloved performers, and draws from Weir’s acclaimed novel. The movie capitalizes on the same science-focused science fiction appeal that made 2015’s Oscar-nominated ‘The Martian,’ also based on a Weir book, so successful. Lord and Miller, creators behind the ‘Spider-Verse’ films and ‘The Lego Movie,’ have consistently delivered hits that resonate with both critics and moviegoers.

However, the current wave of original film success — both at award ceremonies and in theaters — indicates audiences may be craving fresh content beyond familiar franchises. The potentially significant rewards of original hits have become clearly visible, especially when expensive projects like Paul Thomas Anderson’s best picture winner ‘One Battle After Another,’ which cost Warner Bros. over $130 million, have generated massive returns.

‘People go to the movies to see a new experience,’ Miller said. ‘They don’t go to see a thing they’ve already seen. Originality has value, especially as AI gets into the picture. The value that we can bring as filmmakers is to bring something that can’t be AI because it hasn’t been thought of before.’

‘So it’s good business.’

Franchise films haven’t disappeared from dominance. They’ll undoubtedly control most of the remaining year’s box office, starting with Universal’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ next month, followed by highly anticipated releases including ‘Toy Story 5,’ ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and ‘Dune: Part Three.’ Last week, Sony Pictures’ ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ the 11th Spider-Man film this century, established a new trailer viewing record with 718.6 million views within 24 hours.

Franchise films certainly maintain their dominance. However, the continuous stream of sequels, reboots and remakes has made the limited number of big-budget original productions even more distinctive.

‘If we don’t continue to do originals, we’re going to run out of stuff,’ Pete Docter, Pixar chief creative officer, earlier told The Los Angeles Times.

Throughout its history, Pixar has maintained that creating original films remains central to its purpose, though this mission has become increasingly challenging recently. During the pandemic, ‘Soul,’ ‘Luca’ and ‘Turning Red’ were redirected to Disney+. ‘Elemental’ initially appeared unsuccessful but gradually gained momentum, ultimately earning $496 million.

‘Hoppers,’ directed by Daniel Chong, aims to follow a similar path. After three weeks in theaters, it has earned $242.6 million globally for The Walt Disney Co. — certainly profitable, but far behind the pace of 2024’s sequel blockbuster ‘Inside Out 2,’ which generated $1.7 billion.

Such financial performance creates difficult competition for original films, and non-franchise movies require additional effort and expense for marketing. For a $200 million production, promotional costs can nearly match production budgets.

While some of Timothée Chalamet’s promotional activities, including a blimp and Sphere appearance, might have affected his Oscar chances, his marketing efforts were essential in helping ‘Marty Supreme,’ A24’s most expensive production at $70 million, reach $179.3 million in ticket sales.

An extensive marketing campaign also supported ‘Project Hail Mary.’ Gosling appeared everywhere from hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ to performing the ‘La La Land’ dance with his alien co-star, Rocky. However, the film ultimately depended on the appeal of its filmmakers’ comedic approach, Weir’s source material, and Gosling’s star power.

‘We’re all united by the fact that we’ve spent the last two decades having people ask us: What genre is this?’ says Drew Goddard, who wrote screenplays for both ‘The Martian’ and ‘Project Hail Mary.’ ‘We’re constantly hard to classify because we love existing in those strange places. We like drama, we like comedy. We like heartbreak, we like terror. We like silliness.’

By combining broad-appeal source material with appropriate filmmakers and stars, ‘Project Hail Mary’ relied on traditional studio filmmaking and the sometimes forgotten lessons of ‘Barbenheimer.’ Both Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ and Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ demonstrated what’s possible when talented directors receive creative freedom on major productions. However, risks exist. Warner Bros.’ ‘The Bride!’ by Maggie Gyllenhaal appeared to be an intriguing filmmaker-driven project but its financial losses may reach $100 million.

Beyond featuring Gosling, ‘Project Hail Mary’ also shared ‘Barbie’ producer Amy Pascal. Before Amazon’s studio acquisition, the project was approved by former MGM executives Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, who later joined Warner Bros., where they produced both ‘One Battle After Another’ and Ryan Coogler’s acclaimed ‘Sinners’ ($370 million in ticket sales against a $90 million budget).

While Amazon’s $8.5 billion MGM acquisition was primarily motivated by securing valuable intellectual property like James Bond, studios can also establish themselves through homegrown successes. ‘Project Hail Mary’s’ opening represents Amazon MGM’s largest debut ever.

Actually, three of the past year’s biggest original hits have originated from streaming companies: Apple with ‘F1,’ Netflix with ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and Amazon with ‘Project Hail Mary.’ For these studios, theatrical performance represents only part of their success; Netflix didn’t even publicly announce ‘KPop Demon Hunters” chart-topping opening weekend.

These companies often accept greater risks because theatrical break-even isn’t their ultimate objective. Generating attention for their streaming platforms holds equal importance. ‘KPop’ was created and produced by Sony Pictures, but recognizing the potentially difficult theatrical release, the company sold it to Netflix, where it became the streamer’s most-watched film ever.

‘It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that three of the biggest original hits over the past year have come from the biggest streamers: Netflix, Amazon and Apple,’ says Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Comscore. ‘What the streamers are finding is that they can parlay their small-screen successes into the big screen, and vice versa.’

While franchise films will soon reclaim multiplexes, several high-profile movies will attempt to extend the winning streak for original productions, including Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day,’ Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘Digger,’ J.J. Abrams’ ‘The Great Beyond’ and, if counting one of the world’s oldest tales, Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey.’

Even during celebrations for ‘Project Hail Mary,’ the influence franchises maintain over the film industry was evident. Amazon MGM, when announcing the movie’s performance, included a reference to their premier intellectual property, 007, in the numbers: $80,506,007 across 4,007 theaters.