Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary” is still putting up excellent box office numbers in its second weekend. After making $14.6 million on Friday, industry estimates have the sci-fi blockbuster making $53 million in its second frame, which would give it a 10-day domestic total of approximately $163 million.
For comparison, the 2024 sci-fi hit “Dune: Part Two” earned a second weekend of $46.2 million with a two-weekend domestic total of $157.2 million. Depending on how the film holds in April against Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” “Project Hail Mary” is on pace to meet or exceed the $282 million domestic run of Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed epic.
Lifted by a mix of excellent word-of-mouth around Ryan Gosling’s sterling lead performance and deep space imagery worthy of the biggest movie screen one can buy a ticket for, “Project Hail Mary” is set to become Amazon’s biggest theatrical hit ever in a year where it is making its debut as a full-time distributor.
By providing theaters with the March tentpole needed for a stable box office, “Hail Mary” is lifting overall grosses for the weekend to an estimated $96 million and should allow the first quarter of 2026 to finish with an overall domestic total in the vicinity of the $1.72 billion posted in the first quarter of 2023.
Disney/Pixar’s “Hoppers” is also holding well in its fourth weekend with an estimated $11 million to bring its domestic total to $136 million, while the Indian import “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” is making an estimated $4.8 million for a two-weekend total of $22.8 million, enough to pass the $19.7 million total that the first “Dhurandhar” made last year.
On the more lackluster side, Warner Bros.’ “They Will Kill You” earned an opening day of just $2.2 million from 2,778 locations, as industry estimates project a $4.6 million opening that puts it in a tie with the third weekend of Universal’s “Reminders of Him.” Reception for the bloody thriller starring Zazie Beetz has skewed positive but not overwhelmingly so, earning Rotten Tomatoes scores of 67% critics and 79% audience along with a B- on CinemaScore.
While not a major misfire for Warner on the level of “The Bride!,” which is already out of theaters with a global run of just $23.1 million against a reported $80 million budget before marketing, “They Will Kill You” is going to have to leg out just to post a modest theatrical profit against its reported $20 million budget.
