Ryan Gosling's "Project Hail Mary" is doing well in India. The sci-fi movie, which was based on Andy Weir's novel of the same name, is recording strong numbers for an original, non-franchise Hollywood movie, despite strong competition from "Dhurandhar: The Revenge".
According to data collected from various sources, India contributed roughly $1.8 million to the film's worldwide gross of $300 million. The English version recorded the highest occupancy, with Bengaluru (84.3%), National Capital Region (81.5%), and Mumbai (77.5%) leading as top-performing markets for premium formats such as IMAX and 4DX.
A strong upward trajectory has been noted so far. It is now the third-biggest weekend opener after Brad Pitt's "F1", Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" and the other Ryan Gosling hit "Barbie" (directed by Greta Gerwig). Both films were released in 2023. "Oppenheimer" opened with Rs 60 crore while "Barbie" followed with an estimated Rs 25-30 crore. "F1" opened with around a Rs 21.40 crore weekend gross.
Had it opened in the country a week earlier, as it was initially supposed to do, "Project Hail Mary" would've probably done more numbers, but, since many screens — including IMAX — had to be allocated to the Ranveer Singh-starrer, it wouldn't have been practical for Indian theatres, despite strong opposition from fans who argued that movies made for IMAX must be made available for the "Project Hail Mary".
However, the sci-fi movie saw steady growth owing to strong positive word-of-mouth and an increase in the number of premium format (IMAX, 4DX) screenings.
Let's remember that space-based movies do well in India, especially after the overwhelming reception to Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar", most notably when it was re-released recently on IMAX screens across India.
Initially, "Project Hail Mary" was limited to just 6 IMAX shows nationwide, but strong demands and social media "campaigns" led to an increase of nearly 60 IMAX screens by the second day.
When studying the data from the last decade, "Project Hail Mary" becomes the third film to join the elite club of non-franchise movies that opened over $70 million globally, alongside "Oppenheimer" and Jordan Peele’s "Us".
In the sci-fi arena, however, domestic box office reports show that "Project Hail Mary" opened better ($80.5 million) than "Interstellar" ($47.5 million), "The Martian" ($54.3 million), and "Gravity" ($55.6 million).
"Project Hail Mary" is also reportedly Amazon MGM's highest-grossing movie so far.
