The highly anticipated new sci-fi film Project Hail Mary has been described as the first masterpiece of 2026, but how much did the ambitious live-action adaptation of Andy Weir’s ‘unfilmable’ sci-fi novel, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, cost? Let’s take a look at Amazon/MGM’s finances…
One thing that cannot be denied about Amazon/MGM is that they don’t skimp on the budgets of their projects: leaving aside the TV series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the studio spent a reported $200 million on Masters of the Universe, over $100 million on Michael B. Jordan’s remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, $75 million on the documentary Melania, $180 million for Chad Stahelski’s upcoming Highlander starring Henry Cavill, and nearly $100 million for Crime 101. The most recent (and perhaps most expensive) example is Project Hail Mary, which, according to Puck News, cost $248 million to produce.
The sci-fi epic starring Ryan Gosling, which is currently aiming for a box office take of around $50 million in the US on its opening weekend, had a gross production budget of $248 million, but tax credits from the UK and other countries would have reduced the expenses to around $200 million. This figure should come as no surprise, especially if you’ve read Andy Weir’s novel: it’s a film that relies heavily on CGI, and we know that in 2025, special effects don’t come cheap. In any case, with this budget, we’re talking about a break-even point of around $500 million worldwide: it’s a huge gamble for Amazon MGM, but not an irrational one.
After all, there is constant buzz around Project Hail Mary, which will see Ryan Gosling play an astronaut suffering from amnesia who discovers he is aboard a spaceship outside the Solar System on a mission to save humanity. Although the embargo on reviews has not yet been lifted, word of mouth and reactions have been extremely enthusiastic: those who have seen it have compared it to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, and, of course, The Martian, not only in its premise but also in its tone and overall atmosphere. After all, screenwriter Drew Goddard, who earned an Oscar nomination for his adaptation of the novel The Martian (also by Andy Weir), also wrote the screenplay for Project Hail Mary.
The film has been in development since early 2020, when Weir sold the rights to MGM for an estimated $3 million. Amazon MGM has already positioned Project Hail Mary as a major cinematic event, with a release date set for March 20, 2026, and hopes of returning next year as a contender for the 2027 Oscars, as was the case with The Martian.
We’ll see what the box office results will be…
Source: Puck News
