“Project Hail Mary” is bringing audiences to movie theaters in numbers the industry hasn’t seen for a non-franchise film since “Oppenheimer.” The science fiction epic starring Ryan Gosling earned around $80.5 million in ticket sales in its first weekend playing in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. Box office tracker EntTelligence estimates that translates into about 5 million ticket buyers.
That was my biggest worry reading it. After about 150 pages I thought “Wait, how are they going to fit all this within a single movie?”. There’s just so incredibly much backstory in the book. Granted, I haven’t watched the movie yet, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they’'ve managed.
They’ve had to pear it back hard, as well as made some (slightly controversial) changes. It was needed to make the transition however, and the movie flows quite well.
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They absolutely nailed Rocky. They captured his energy far better than the book portrayed it. It’s awesome watching a movie with aliens, without military tension being the default.