“Project Hail Mary” is bringing audiences to movie theaters in numbers the industry hasn’t seen for a non-franchise film since “Oppenheimer.” The science fiction epic starring Ryan Gosling earned around $80.5 million in ticket sales in its first weekend playing in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. Box office tracker EntTelligence estimates that translates into about 5 million ticket buyers.
I read and enjoyed the book, but the movie improved on some story beats and trimmed some sciencey stuff that wouldn’t have translated well to the screen. Pretty great adaptation.
If you’re considering watching it, do try to avoid the trailers for it. I understand that you have to market the story, but introducing things in ads that should have been delightful surprises kinda stinks.
Is there a point watching it if having read the book
I managed to avoid all trailers, bought tickets for the family, got to our seats and guess what was showing in the early trailers? That’s right, clips from the movie spoiling Rocky and giving stupid facts.
Like WTF?
Don’t show promotional material for the movie you’re already in, let alone spoilery ones
This just happened to me. So damn frustrating >.<
I’ve read the book a billion times, it’s so damn good, (listened to it ray porter is amazing in everything he reads) and watched the trailer and yea…they spoil the hell out of the big surprise. Like damn…
The trick is to find a theatre that lets you reserve seats with your tickets and then show up about 10 minutes late to miss all the ads spoilers/trailers for other movies.
It’s one area where my procrastination paid off and gave a better experience instead of a worse one.
That would be so infuriating. I DESPISE spoilers
I was trying to abstain from the trailer. I was watching a live episode of Saturday night live when it cut to commercial- the project Hail Mary trailer. They showed Rocky in the first 5 seconds! I was pissed off. I had to quiet my rage at 11:30 pm while my wife and kid were sleeping. I hate movie trailers
Rocky isn’t even the biggest twist, tho.
Which is why they put him in the trailers. They wanted a cute character beside the Hollywood guy.
I assume you mean Ryan Gosling is the cute character beside the Hollywood guy, Rocky.
I’m so glad I never watched the trailer. I did have something spoiled but I mostly forgot about it until it happened so all is well.
Honestly trailers are why I’m not seeing it. With the massive spoilers I don’t want marketers to have my money. I’ll watch it at home later, but very upset with them. I know it’s small in the grand scheme of things, but I’m very annoyed at them
When you can just watch a couple trailers and get all the major plot points, why waste the money?
Agreed on all points! Went with a friend who hadn’t read the book, and the important story beats hadn’t been ruined for her; certain emotional points hit her hard. So well executed.
Dude certain emotional points still hit me hard and I had just re-read the book two weeks ago
Turns out these chumps knew how to make a fuckin’ movie.
I managed to avoid the trailers and just caught some pre-release hype which motivated me to go see it. I didn’t read the book so I can’t compare the film to the book. It’s definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen. I really enjoyed it.
I went to a 9pm Thursday showing and the theatre was probably 3/4 full which I haven’t seen in a general screening in a long time, definitely since the pandemic.
Does the movie keep the suprise? I’ve read the book, just hoping it pops out of nowhere in the same way.
There are a couple of good surprises, one early-ish and one pretty late. (Trying to avoid spoilers here.)
The early-ish surprise (a character reveal) was a genuine jump-scare for me and I knew exactly what was about to happen. So pretty good.
The later surprise (a revelation about why someone is in their situation) is actually subtly foreshadowed better in the movie than it was in the book. A really great improvement.
I literally jumped at that first surprise. Well played …
And I agree that this was a superb adaptation.
With the books, between the Martian, and PHM, which do you think was the better one?
They’re very similar. “Competent man solves problems using science, some of which he caused by overlooking things.” But The Martian is more hard sci-fi (or, I guess, more believable). PHM is more fantastical sci-fi.
I’m tempted to say The Martian walked so that PHM could run. They’re both really good, though.
I love them both, but I think I prefer The Martian due to its lesser sci-fi nature. PHM probably has the more dynamic and interesting story though.
The martian is the better book. It’s one of the best examples of “science applied to problems” I’ve read. Unfortunately the movie did it a dirty, and cut out a lot of the good parts.
Project hail Mary is an excellent book, but not quite to the level of The Martian (REALLY enjoyed it however!). The film is a better adaptation. It still cuts a lot of science out, but at least plays lip service to it having happened. It also captures the characters PERFECTLY.
I felt like The Martian was a really good adaption, but I like it when the movie is different from the book. I want to have a reason to read and watch both. If it was all 1:1, there wouldn’t really be a need to watch the movie.
I personally liked Project Hail Mary more than The Martian, but wasn’t all that happy about the ending. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed, and wasn’t really what I wanted to have happen, but whatever, still a good ending.
I definitely agree with you.
spoiler
I suspect there were several deleted scenes in the ending. The 1 second blip was all that was left of the science applied at the ending. The whole using the engines as a searchlight, combined with creative use of the speed of light was completely cut down to a 1 second shot.
At the same time. I can’t see how they could fit the awesomeness from the book into a reasonable length film.
That was my biggest worry reading it. After about 150 pages I thought “Wait, how are they going to fit all this within a single movie?”. There’s just so incredibly much backstory in the book. Granted, I haven’t watched the movie yet, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they’'ve managed.
They’ve had to pear it back hard, as well as made some (slightly controversial) changes. It was needed to make the transition however, and the movie flows quite well.
spoiler
They absolutely nailed Rocky. They captured his energy far better than the book portrayed it. It’s awesome watching a movie with aliens, without military tension being the default.
…American audiences