Bob Mondello

Ryan Gosling's film about an alien encounter during a long-shot effort to save Earth... No one's ever done this before.

...took off like a rocket last weekend.

I think you mean go time, pal.

And apparently the 85% of its audience that said in exit polls that they'd recommend Project Hail Mary to a friend actually recommended it to a friend.

Where most blockbusters dropped drastically after a big U.S.

opening...

Project Hail Mary will finish this second weekend with another $54 million in the till.

And it's holding even better overseas, so the worldwide 10-day total will top $300 million all before the start of next weekend's lucrative Easter holidays.

Bob Mondello, NPR News.

The story of an alien encounter during a long-shot trip to save the Earth from extinction seems to be morphing into a tool to save Hollywood from extinction.

I think you're being go time, pal.

Project Hail Mary will take in more than $80 million in North America this weekend, easily the best opening of 2026.

Oh, my God.

It's also doing extremely well overseas.

Its worldwide total through Sunday night will top $140 million.

Thumbs up.

No, that's thumbs down.

We do the thumbs up.

It's close enough.

And exit polls say 85% of those who've seen Project Hail Mary would recommend it to a friend, suggesting it'll continue to soar for a few more weeks at least.