Amazon MGM Studios’ $150 million sci-fi film ‘Project Hail Mary’ is generating early buzz in box office tracking, with projections suggesting it could open to around $50 million in North America when it debuts on March 20.

The movie stars Ryan Gosling as a high school science teacher who unexpectedly finds himself on a mission in space to address a crisis threatening the galaxy. Early tracking indicates strong interest from male audiences as a first choice, while also performing very well among women. In fact, the film’s first-choice numbers are currently higher than those seen when ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘F1,’ and ‘Weapons’ first appeared in tracking.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and produced by Amy Pascal, ‘Project Hail Mary’ is also the first four-quadrant film since ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash.’

Historically, only 87 films have debuted with more than $40 million at the domestic box office, and just seven of those have been non-sequels — a group that includes ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘It Ends with Us.’ ‘Project Hail Mary’ is already benefiting from built-in interest because it’s based on Andy Weir’s 2021 bestselling novel. Weir also wrote ‘The Martian,’ which was adapted into Ridley Scott’s 2015 film starring Matt Damon. That movie earned seven Oscar nominations and opened to $54.3 million before finishing with $228.4 million domestically and $630.6 million worldwide.

Amazon MGM Studios held its first press screening for ‘Project Hail Mary’ last Thursday night at the TCL Chinese Theatre. The 2-hour-36-minute sci-fi film reportedly received strong applause from the audience at the end of the screening.

Also arriving in wide release on March 20 is Searchlight Pictures’ ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,’ directed by Radio Silence filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The sequel is currently projected to open at more than $11 million. While it’s still early in the marketing campaign, momentum may build after the film’s world premiere at SXSW in Austin on March 13. Searchlight has already held early screenings ahead of the festival — an unusual move before a major SXSW premiere — suggesting the studio is confident and eager to generate positive word of mouth.

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