[ad_1]
UPDATED, Friday AM: Previews came in at $12 million for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary. Again, that’s an all-in previews figure, not just Thursday night.
All records listed below still stand from last night’s reporting. In addition, the Amazon MGM Studios movie scored the second-best previews ever for a non-sequel, non-franchise, after 2017’s It which did $13.5M. It also beats the previews of some big movies like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning ($8.3M) and Gladiator II ($6.3M). Buckle up, it’s going to be a fun weekend at the B.O. Project Hail Mary is booked at 4,000 sites including all Imax, PLFs, etc.
In Thursday night Posttrak exits from Screen Engine and Comscore, 61% men showed up and 39% women with 5 stars (as we told you last night), 95% positive score and a massive 85% definite recommend. Fifty six percent previously bought tickets. Fifty-nine percent were between ages 18-34.
RELATED: The 60 Movies That Have Made More Than $1 Billion At The Global Box Office
In addition, Searchlight’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come did $1.2M in previews with a 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. The pic is booked in 3,010 theaters including 310 PLF and 150 motion seats. Comps are The Monkey ($1.9M, $14M opening), A Knock on the Cabin ($1.5M, $14.1M opening), Primate ($1.4M, $11.2M opening) and Radio Silence’s own Abigail ($1M, $10.3M opening). The first Ready or Not opened to $8M in 2019 and did $28.7M at the domestic B.O, and $57.6M global off a $6M net production cost.
The top 5 for the week:
1.) Hoppers (Dis) 4,000 theaters, Wk $44M (-25%), Total $102.3M/Wk 2
2.) Reminders of Him (Uni) 3,402 theaters, Wk $25.1M/Wk 1
3.) Scream 7 (Par) 3,243 theaters, Wk $12M (-46%), Total $110.2M/Wk 3
4.) undertone (A24) 2,570 theaters, $11.7M/Wk 1
5.) GOAT (Sony) 2,946 theaters, Wk $8.1M (-6%), Total $94M/Wk 5
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, Thursday PM: A non-franchise movie is making waves at the box office and we’re talking about Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary.
Sources tell us that the previews for the Phil Lord- and Christopher Miller-directed sci-fi production are north of $11 million, which takes us to an upper stratosphere that’s ahead of another non-franchise movie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer ($10.5M). It’s also ahead of all the comps for original pics that many tracking services were pegging it to: F1 ($10M previews), Sinners ($4.7M) and Weapons ($5.7M). Project Hail Mary is based on Andy Weir’s 2021 New York Times bestseller.
In terms of the previews rollout, Amazon MGM Studios had 29 70M shows last weekend (single shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday), followed by Prime member screenings Monday in PLFs and Imax, as well as tonight’s shows.
Before we bury the lede even further, by golly, it’s the best previews so far in 2026, ahead of Scream 7‘s $7.8M ($63.6M opening). Tracking in recent days raised the weekend forecast to north of $60M. Let’s not be over-bullish just yet, because the opening range between F1 and Oppenheimer was $57M-$82.4M. We’re also hearing the production from Amy Pascal, Ryan Gosling, Rachel O’Connor, Andy Weir and Aditya Sood landed 5 stars on tonight’s PostTrak.
In addition, Project Hail Mary reps the best previews ever for an Amazon MGM Studios release, ahead of Creed III ($5.4M, which turned in a three-day total of $58.3M, best domestic start ever for the shopping site-streamer-theatrical embracer). It’s also arguably the second-best previews ever for a Gosling movie behind Barbie ($22.3M).
The best opening for a non-franchise movie belongs to Oppenheimer ($82.4M), followed by I Am Legend ($77.2M); like Project Hail Mary, the latter was based on a novel.
Talk to anybody in distribution, and the exclamation is “this is good for the business,” read, a non-franchise title breaking out and finding a mass audience.
[ad_2]
Original Source Link