In 2015, Andy Weir became one of the most well-known authors of his time when Ridley Scott turned his beloved sci-fi novel, The Martian, into one of the best sci-fi movies of all time and a controversial Golden Globe winner. Nearly a decade later, Project Hail Mary, one of Weir’s other works, is getting the big-screen treatment with some major talent involved.
If this is the first you’re hearing about the upcoming book-to-screen adaptation, don’t worry, because we’re about to break down everything we know about the long-in-the-works project about a lone astronaut played by Ryan Gosling who is tasked with saving humanity from extinction. Let’s learn more about Project Hail Mary…
What Is The Project Hail Mary Release Date
Though we'll have to wait a bit, there is good news about the upcoming Ryan Gosling movie, as Project Hail Mary has a release date of March 20, 2026, per Deadline. As of June 2024, no other movies have been announced for that date, but expect that to change in the coming months (and years).
Ryan Gosling Will Lead The Project Hail Mary Cast
When Project Hail Mary hits the big screen, it will feature a cast led by Ryan Gosling, who has been attached to star in the film as an actor as well as one of its producers since March 2020, according to Variety.
In May 2024, Deadline reported that Sandra Hüller, who received an Academy Award nomination for her unforgettable performance in Anatomy of a Fall earlier in the year, would be joining Gosling in the upcoming film. However, no details have been revealed about her character at this time.
Project Hail Mary Will Follow An Astronaut As He Attempts To Save Earth
Similar to The Martian, which spent a great deal of its runtime showing Matt Damon’s Mark Watney spending time alone on Mars working on all types of experiments to stay alive long enough to be rescued, Project Hail Mary will see Ryan Gosling’s astronaut alone deep in outer space after being sent on a mission to another star in hopes of saving Earth, per The Hollywood Reporter.
In the book on which the movie is based, that astronaut, Ryland Grace, is the sole survivor of a last-ditch effort to save humanity and every other living creature on Earth. According to Penguin Random House, Andy Weir’s novel follows the astronaut as he wakes up alone and confused on a ship hurtling through space millions of miles from home as he tries to figure out how to save the day.
Project Hail Mary Is Being Filmed For IMAX
We're seeing more and more movies shot for IMAX these days, and Project Hail Mary will continue that trend. When announcing the film's release date in April 2024, Deadline also reported that Phil Lord and Chris Miller's space adventure will be filmed for IMAX, which has us even more excited for what's to come.
With Andy Weir's novel featuring exciting scenes on both Earth and in space, it makes perfect sense for the big-screen adaptation to take advantage of the epic scope and scale of IMAX. Now we just have to wait to catch our first glimpse of what will surely be awesome and mesmerizing footage.
Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary Was Published In May 2021 And Later Became A New York Times Best Seller
Some books spend many years or even several decades before they are adapted for the screen, but that isn’t the case with Project Hail Mary, as Andy Weir’s fourth novel was released not even five years ago. The sci-fi novel about an astronaut hurdling through space with the weight of humanity on his shoulders and a difficult task ahead of him was first published back in May 2021 and became a massive hit shortly thereafter.
Following its release, Project Hail Mary spent a total of nine weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list, eventually coming off that August. It would later be named GoodReads Best Science Fiction novel of 2021 and also received several other accolades.
Phil Lord And Chris Miller Are Co-Directing
Project Hail Mary won’t just have big talent in front of the camera when Ryan Gosling appears in the upcoming movie, as one of the most successful filmmaking duos of the 21st century will be sitting behind the camera for this one. In May 2020, Variety revealed that Phil Lord and Chris Miller would be directing the adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel, which will be the duo’s first time helming a live-action movie since being fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Over the years, Lord and Miller have directed movies ranging from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (another book adaptation) to 21 Jump Street (and its sequel, 22 Jump Street) to The Lego Movie. They’ve also had a hand in crafting some of the best Spider-Man movies, including 2023’s Across the Spider-Verse.
The Martian Scribe Drew Goddard Wrote The Project Hail Mary Script
Just like The Martian, which was adapted to the screen by Drew Goddard, the Project Hail Mary screenplay was penned by the prolific screenwriter and filmmaker. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Goddard, who received an Oscar nomination the last time he adapted one of Andy Weir’s novels, signed onto the project in June 2020, just a couple of months after MGM first purchased the rights to it.
Throughout his career, Goddard has written some of the best horror movies of the 21st century like Cloverfield and The Cabin in the Woods, the latter of which was his directorial debut. He’s also worked on several great TV shows, as well, including Lost, Daredevil, and The Good Place, to name a few.
The Project Hail Mary Adaptation Has Been In The Works Since Before The Book Was Published
Much like the film rights for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, which Universal Studios acquired before the book was even published, Project Hail Mary’s rights were purchased by MGM a little more than a year before the sci-fi novel hit bookshelves. In March 2020, Deadline reported that the studio, which was acquired by Amazon one year later, paid a seven-figure amount to turn the then-unpublished novel into a movie, which really shows how excited they were to make this thing a reality.
Production On Project Hail Mary Kicked Off In June 2024
Though there is still a considerable amount of time before Project Hail Mary hits the big screen in March 2026, the project is up and running, as production kicked off in June 2024. In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, director Chris Miller shared an image of the clapper from the first day of shooting along with a caption reading: “LET’S GOOOOOOOO” expressing his excitement.
In addition to announcing that the upcoming sci-fi movie finally entered production, the post also revealed that Greig Fraser, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer behind the Dune movies, The Creator, and The Batman is the film’s director of photography, which is great news.
It might be some time before we get to see a trailer or additional information about Project Hail Mary, but there are plenty of 2024 new movies and exciting 2025 theatrical releases to hold us over in the meantime.
