Ryan Gosling’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Project Hail Mary doesn’t arrive in theaters until 2026 — but regardless, the film is off to a pretty amazing start, having already broken an insane record way ahead of its release.
The film’s director Phil Lord revealed this week that the film’s trailer has surpassed an incredible 400 million views, making it the most watched trailer for any original film that isn’t a sequel or remake ever after just one week online.
Lord specifically took to social media to celebrate the accomplishment. “Holy Moly! Thank you all you glorious generous fans of movies / books / near light speed space travel / the Sun for pushing the trailer for Project Hail Mary past 400 million views – the most in one week for a non-sequel non-remake original film trailer… ever,” he gushed in his post, which included a graphic celebrating the milestone that included a new image of Gosling in the film.
Holy Moly! Thank you all you glorious generous fans of movies / books / near light speed space travel / the Sun for pushing the trailer for Project Hail Mary past 400 million views – the most in one week for a non-sequel non-remake original film trailer… ever. Can’t wait to… pic.twitter.com/b1UzDy3lH7
— Phil Lord (@philiplord) July 9, 2025
The filmmaker added, “Can’t wait to thank some of you in person at San Diego Comic-Con in Hall H with our pals Ryan, Andy, and Drew….and a few other surprises…” Lord will be attending the major event with Gosling, co-director Chris Miller, original novel writer Andy Weir, and the film’s writer Drew Goddard — but as for what kind of exciting tidbits they have in store for fans, it seems like we’ll have to wait until SDCC to find out.
This is the second film adaptation of Weir’s work, with the first one being 20th Century Fox’s The Martian, starring Matt Damon. That film was wildly successful for the studio, raking in a reported $630 million at the global box office — so it makes a lot of sense that not only is Amazon MGM Studios willing to take a chance on another adaptation from the author, but also that the film is already garnering so much attention.
Project Hail Mary also stars Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, and Milana Vayntrub. It arrives in theaters on March 20, 2026.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
