“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.
So were just ignoring Sinners then?
Went and saw it. Despite “Rocky” being a little bro to the Galaxy Quest Rock Monster and kinda being cheesy with the “coos” and decidedly un-alien thought processes that were very human…
It was a relief to watch and enjoy.
Not dark, not apocalyptic like supervillains bent on world destruction, not yet another rehash of a franchise or live action reboot.
I was glad to see it. A decent, feel-good original movie.
Makes sense. The book was really good and had a lot of the same energy that The Martian did. Weir very clearly grew up on Whedon/Tarantino and the constant self-quipping lines up with that. But, at its core, it is competency porn driven by a refusal to fail. The Martian was about Wattney’s personal survival whereas PHM is more about the survival of a species. Of course it is going to be good.
That said: never read Artemis. That ALSO makes it very clear that Weir grew up on Tarantino an Whedon and why it is probably only a matter of time until “nobody could have seen this coming”. Jesus fucking christ. Jim Butcher isn’t even that creepy and there are a LOT of open secrets about who his characters are “inspired by”.
If you’re looking for more competency porn like The Martian, they pivoted HARD away from that with this adaptation. They turned Grace into a bumbling idiot and a top to bottom coward. It was awful. Did the screenwriters even read this fucking book, or just the plot synopsis?
and a top to bottom coward.
he was crying in the book and threatening to blow up the ship if they sent him.
While Grace wasn’t an idiot in the books, he was a self proclaimed coward. Like most of the book he’s trying to get away from his problems.
He might have thought himself cowardly, but he was certainly not a coward. That same “coward” didn’t sit on his ass and drink the second he woke up, he figured out what was going on and set his mind to solving the problem. Grace didn’t scream bloody murder when he shut down the centrifuge, he… just did it I guess. (Like, wtf else did you think was about to happen, movie Grace?) He didn’t scream and try and run away from Rocky, he was instantly excited and eagerly worked his ass off for a first contact with an intelligent alien race.
I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t make any comments on it, I was just saying that in the books gracy literally proclaimed he’s a coward… it’s kinda how he was put on the mission…
The word coward was used 5 times total in the novel, and it was Stratt accusing him of being a coward twice before he ever called himself one, denegrating himself AFTER recalling the memory of his selection for the mission.
Like I said, he did certainly have a cowardly act when faced with death. One act does not make a person a coward, and for the whole story up to AND after that point, he dives headlong into danger.
Maybe the literal word wasn’t used - but I’m failing to think of a single other cowardly act from Grace in the whole novel. I’d be happy to reread any section that you think fits your narrative, but for now I really strongly disagree and had the opposite takeaway.
I guess you went to the bathroom during all the montages where he did Science™ … at the exact times he did in the book.
I read and enjoyed the book, but the movie improved on some story beats and trimmed some sciencey stuff that wouldn’t have translated well to the screen. Pretty great adaptation.
If you’re considering watching it, do try to avoid the trailers for it. I understand that you have to market the story, but introducing things in ads that should have been delightful surprises kinda stinks.
I managed to avoid all trailers, bought tickets for the family, got to our seats and guess what was showing in the early trailers? That’s right, clips from the movie spoiling Rocky and giving stupid facts.
Like WTF?
Don’t show promotional material for the movie you’re already in, let alone spoilery ones
This just happened to me. So damn frustrating >.<
The trick is to find a theatre that lets you reserve seats with your tickets and then show up about 10 minutes late to miss all the ads spoilers/trailers for other movies.
It’s one area where my procrastination paid off and gave a better experience instead of a worse one.
Agreed on all points! Went with a friend who hadn’t read the book, and the important story beats hadn’t been ruined for her; certain emotional points hit her hard. So well executed.
trimmed some sciencey stuff that wouldn’t have translated well to
…American audiences
Honestly trailers are why I’m not seeing it. With the massive spoilers I don’t want marketers to have my money. I’ll watch it at home later, but very upset with them. I know it’s small in the grand scheme of things, but I’m very annoyed at them
When you can just watch a couple trailers and get all the major plot points, why waste the money?
With the books, between the Martian, and PHM, which do you think was the better one?
They’re very similar. “Competent man solves problems using science, some of which he caused by overlooking things.” But The Martian is more hard sci-fi (or, I guess, more believable). PHM is more fantastical sci-fi.
I’m tempted to say The Martian walked so that PHM could run. They’re both really good, though.
The martian is the better book. It’s one of the best examples of “science applied to problems” I’ve read. Unfortunately the movie did it a dirty, and cut out a lot of the good parts.
Project hail Mary is an excellent book, but not quite to the level of The Martian (REALLY enjoyed it however!). The film is a better adaptation. It still cuts a lot of science out, but at least plays lip service to it having happened. It also captures the characters PERFECTLY.
I felt like The Martian was a really good adaption, but I like it when the movie is different from the book. I want to have a reason to read and watch both. If it was all 1:1, there wouldn’t really be a need to watch the movie.
I personally liked Project Hail Mary more than The Martian, but wasn’t all that happy about the ending. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed, and wasn’t really what I wanted to have happen, but whatever, still a good ending.
I definitely agree with you.
spoiler
I suspect there were several deleted scenes in the ending. The 1 second blip was all that was left of the science applied at the ending. The whole using the engines as a searchlight, combined with creative use of the speed of light was completely cut down to a 1 second shot.
At the same time. I can’t see how they could fit the awesomeness from the book into a reasonable length film.
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.
Does the movie keep the suprise? I’ve read the book, just hoping it pops out of nowhere in the same way.
There are a couple of good surprises, one early-ish and one pretty late. (Trying to avoid spoilers here.)
The early-ish surprise (a character reveal) was a genuine jump-scare for me and I knew exactly what was about to happen. So pretty good.
The later surprise (a revelation about why someone is in their situation) is actually subtly foreshadowed better in the movie than it was in the book. A really great improvement.
I was trying to abstain from the trailer. I was watching a live episode of Saturday night live when it cut to commercial- the project Hail Mary trailer. They showed Rocky in the first 5 seconds! I was pissed off. I had to quiet my rage at 11:30 pm while my wife and kid were sleeping. I hate movie trailers
Rocky isn’t even the biggest twist, tho.
Which is why they put him in the trailers. They wanted a cute character beside the Hollywood guy.
I assume you mean Ryan Gosling is the cute character beside the Hollywood guy, Rocky.
I still haven’t seen Oppenheimer, it just sounds like a long boring movie. I’m 70% through the PHM book and I can’t wait to see it.
Oppenheimer asked “just because we can build a nuclear bomb, should we?”, but they seemed to imply that the movie was original and edgy to consider that angle rather than it having been asked continuously for the past 80 years.
This movie wasn’t on my radar at all. After seeing Adam Savage talking about the production, I definitely want to see it.
Since Oppenheimer, you say?! That must have been released like a hundred years ago, right?! Amazing. The world we live in. Truly the future.
To me anything around 2000 I consider “newer” . considering film had been around wince what, 1880, I feel I’m accurate.
“Project Hail Mary” is bringing audiences to movie theaters in numbers the industry hasn’t seen for a non-franchise film since “Oppenheimer.”
So, 3 years ago?
so 3 years is like 12 superhero movies. AND THEY STILL HAVEN’T MADE THE ORIGIN OF THE SHOVELLER.
That’s an eternity for dipshit business brains that can’t think beyond the current quarter
what if we made Oppenheimer 2: nuclear bugaloo?
Oppenheimer and Melania 2. Melanheimer.
It really sucks though. 2.5 hours of unbearably cringe “humor.”
Just say you didn’t get it. The Super Mario Galaxy movie was next door.
I think you wandered into the wrong theatre, buddy.
