PROJECT HAIL MARY

Project Hail Mary is the 2026 film adaptation of the 2021 science fiction novel written by Andy Weir. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film stars Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller. Project Hail Mary follows Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher who was once a molecular biologist, but left academia after his controversial research paper stating that life doesn’t necessarily need water to live, and that extraterrestrial life could rely on completely different molecular building blocks. Grace wakes up in a spaceship named the Hail Mary, orbiting near the sun. He has no recollection of how or why he’s there, and on further inspection, realizes that the sun isn’t actually OUR sun. He’s in a completely different system. Throughout the film, the story fluctuates between the past and present, answering questions and filling in blanks, as we “remember” Grace’s past with him. We find out that after observing a mysterious, rapid dimming of the sun, researchers found a trail, named the Pratova line after the scientist who discovered it, traveling out of the sun, to Venus, and back. The Pratova line was discovered to be foreign microscopic life forms, dubbed astrophage. It turns out, astrophage is eating our sun, along with every star in the galaxy. Except one. The star that he’s at is the only star seemingly immune to astrophage. And that’s what Grace is up there for: a one-way ticket to gather and relay information back to earth to save the world, a suicide mission, a Hail Mary. As Grace accepts the truth, he comes in contact with another ship, and on further investigation, meets an alien that he names Rocky, who ends up being here for the same reason he is. Despite their language barrier and not being able to survive each other’s environment, the two work together to save their worlds and everybody they care about. 

With a budget of nearly $200 million, Project Hail Mary didn’t waste a single dollar. The film is filled with beautiful, stunning visuals and is just a spectacle to see on the big screen. The score is filled with choruses representing multiple different cultures, to fully give the feel that everyone’s lives are at stake. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller purposefully avoided using green screens for any part of the interior of Grace or Rocky’s ship, having a full practical set, which, with the sound design of the film, truly makes you believe we are in a real ship in space. Even Rocky himself was a purely practical puppet, actually on set. Gosling stated that 5 puppeteers were utilized to bring Rocky to life, which they called the Rocketeers. In an interview, when asked if the puppet made filming easier, Ryan stated, “Absolutely not.” While it would have been “Much easier to just CGI it,” having a physical thing to interact with helped Ryan “Build a real relationship” with Rocky, and he felt that he was “Fed the whole movie.” Wearing an earpiece through which Rocky’s voice actor spoke his lines, the inclusion of a real Rocky on set opened the door to many improvised lines and scenes throughout the movie, truly building on the core of Grace and Rocky’s relationship.

While already having fans of the novel excited for the film, Project Hail Mary’s marketing campaign has been EXTENSIVE, with Gosling doing press tours around the world, and even recreating the poster of La La Land with Rocky.

The film already has a LEGO set, being the first set of a Ryan Gosling film. Box office predictions state that the film will make $70+ million domestically on its opening weekend, and with it truly being a spectacle to experience, Project Hail Mary is a MUST-see for the big screen.