“Project Hail Mary” has set records such as: Amazon Lighting the way to MGM and box office revitalization.
The sci-fi movie starring Ryan Gosling has grossed more than $300 million worldwide since its theatrical release two weeks ago. This was the highest-grossing Amazon MGM movie ever.
“The huge success of ‘Project Hail Mary’ was a watershed moment for Amazon MGM, delivering the distributor’s first $100 million plus domestic box office gross,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Head of Marketplace Trends at ComScore.
“Project Hail Mary” has been a notable performer at the box office since its release, with ticket sales down just 32% from its first to second weekend in the United States, and an almost unprecedented 5% drop overseas. A typical Hollywood blockbuster sees ticket sales drop 50% to 70% from its opening weekend to its second weekend after the rush to theaters dies down.
“Exactly one year ago, when Amazon debuted ‘Project Hail Mary’ at CinemaCon, it was clear the studio had big plans in mind,” said Sean Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “After two great weekends so far, the film is a strong contributor to year-over-year box office sales.”
Domestically, the film grossed approximately $165 million, helping to support first-quarter box office revenue. disney’s “Hoppers” Paramount’s “Scream 7” has grossed $1.75 billion at the domestic box office this year through Sunday, a 23% increase from the same period last year.
Fast forward to 2022, and e-commerce giant Amazon and relative upstart film studio MGM have pledged to spend about $1 billion each year on theatrical releases, which would translate into funding 12 to 15 films a year. Last year, the company announced that it had a lineup of 14 titles for 2026.
This surge in theatrical content is exactly what the domestic box office needs. While blockbuster franchise films have been plentiful in the wake of the pandemic, the total number of wide releases has declined over the past decade. Even before COVID-19 and Hollywood’s double labor strike halted production, the number of movies being produced in Hollywood was declining year-over-year, according to ComScore data.
At the same time that studios were changing their film direction, film companies were also merging. The recent combination is walt disney company 21st Century Fox, first announced in 2017 and finalized in early 2019, would result in the loss of 10 to 15 film releases per year, according to ComScore data.
Merger with Paramount is on hold warner bros discovery Hollywood is worried that theatrical releases will be further reduced.
Paramount has said it is committed to releasing 15 films from each studio, but it is unclear whether the combined company will be able to sustain such production.
In the meantime, Amazon appears ready to fill the gap in its schedule.
The company’s future schedule includes a wide variety of films, including the comedy murder mystery “Sheep Detectives,” scheduled for release in May, the action-packed “Masters of the Universe,” scheduled for release in June, and the psychological thriller “Verity,” based on the novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover, scheduled for release in October.
Like “Project Hail Mary,” which is based on the book by Andy Weir, “Verity” could benefit from a deep fan base of readers who want to see the story translated to the big screen.
“In short, Project Hail Mary is the studio’s new gold standard for what can be accomplished in film,” Robbins said. “This is good news for the industry as a whole, which is still adjusting to the tailwinds of shorter release windows, consolidation, and ever-evolving consumer habits. All the studios in the industry, and even the old guard, will be watching to see what they can gain from Amazon’s success with this film. The power of the moviegoing experience is now being unleashed to its fullest.”
Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.
