Project Hail Mary is making waves since its debut in theaters on Friday. The Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi epic has a 95% with critics and 97% with fans on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, and is expected to have taken in a whopping $77 million domestically, a record for an original movie. It’ll need to stay strong at the box office to make a profit given its reported $250 million budget, but so far, it looks strong.
Project Hail Mary is the newest film in a long line of excellent sci-fi titles that blend an original space story with a realistic narrative. Directors like Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott also achieve a similar sort of success with films that are worth watching (or rewatching), especially after seeing Project Hail Mary.
Interstellar
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar has aged incredibly well in the years since its release, and appears to have had a major influence on Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of Project Hail Mary. Like the latter, Interstellar is a story about a scientist leaving Earth in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save human beings from extinction.
The major difference, however, is that Ryan Gosling and co. are trying to save Earth in Project Hail Mary, as opposed to the heroes in Interstellar, who accept Earth’s fate and are instead focused on the future of humanity.
Interstellar excels in almost every area. Just like Project Hail Mary, Nolan’s epic film feels like it could realistically happen (give or take a few details). This not only makes the film even more approachable for audiences, but also prompts some interesting real-world discussions as well.
Interstellar combines that realistic sci-fi with genuine heart and emotion, too, with McConaughey’s iconic scene on the ship, in which he watches videos his children had sent to him, a prime example of this. Interstellar’s list of positives is nearly endless. It’s an excellent film, and a great one to watch after Project Hail Mary.
The Martian
Out of all the films on this list, The Martian is arguably the one most similar to Project Hail Mary. For starters, it’s based off of a book by author Andy Weir, who also wrote the book Project Hail Mary is based off of the same name. Structurally, the two films are very similar.
In The Martian, Matt Damon’s character is stuck on Mars, living entirely by himself on a makeshift spaceship and recording videos to send back to Earth. In Project Hail Mary, Gosling is similarly a space pioneer of sorts, as he’s the first human to venture that far out into the universe.
Viewers may be able to tell that both films are based off of stories from the same author. Both have essentially the same tone throughout, with a very similar style of humor to boot.
Given the success of The Martian, which earned over $600 million at the box office and was a nominee for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, it makes sense why Amazon MGM would want to use the same sort of formula for Project Hail Mary, and it looks set to have paid off. The Martian is a film that pairs well with Project Hail Mary, to be watched before or after the new movie.
Sunshine
Fans of Project Hail Mary may also enjoy Sunshine, the Danny Boyle-directed sci-fi film that has a similar plot to the new movie. Sunshine is set in the year 2057, as a group of astronauts attempts desperately to save Earth from plunging temperatures and the rise of a new ice age.
Like Project Hail Mary, Sunshine’s story is focused on problems with the sun and the struggles of the leading characters as they work tirelessly to to save it from dying out by the end of the movie.
While not considered to be as good of a film as Project Hail Mary, and not performing well at the box office, Sunshine will likely still scratch the itch for fans looking for similar movies. It also features an all-star cast that includes Rose Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, and Michelle Yeoh.
Murphy especially shines in this film in a post-Batman Begins role for the Irish actor, giving a performance that showed, even this early on in his career, that he’s one of the best actors of his generation. Ultimately, at the very least, this is a hyper-entertaining follow-up to Project Hail Mary, even if it doesn’t hit the same sort of highs.
Moon
Moon captures the one-man space adventure tale in the same way that Project Hail Mary does (at least initially). Directed by Duncan Jones, son of musician David Bowie, Moon follows astronaut Sam Bell, who thinks he is returning to Earth before finding a clone of himself, leading him to investigate what’s really going on behind the scenes of the mission he was sent on.
Moon is worth the watch for many reasons. It features a compelling lead performance from Sam Rockwell, who plays a character that is simultaneously witty and funny, but also haunted and (understandably) very nervous at the same time.
Moon may also interest fans who are looking for a Project Hail Mary-esque film but with more of a mystery spin, as the story dives deep into a conspiracy regarding Rockwell’s character and what his bosses have planned for him. Moon also has a compelling ending, meaning that fans should stick with it, even with the relatively slow pacing early on.
Alien
Alien is one of the most iconic science fiction films of all time, and for good reason. It’s a certified classic, equipped with star performances from Sigourney Weaver and co., and an original story that is simultaneously frightening and enthralling at the same time. It differs from Project Hail Mary in many ways, but is still a great follow-up to the new film.
Alien’s story, taking place exclusively in a ship, is akin to Project Hail Mary’s (relative) isolated plot. It’s more sinister than Project Hail Mary, with Alien portraying the extraterrestrial creatures as threats as opposed to friends. This means that it lacks the heart that comes from Rocky and Grace’s relationship in Project Hail Mary, but more than makes up for it with exceptional horror-fueled storytelling. That the Alien franchise is still going strong nearly 50 years after the release of the first film shows just how good the initial film is.
Eagle-eyed fans will also notice a reference to Alien in Project Hail Mary, with Gosling’s character making a comment about how glad he is that Rocky is well-intentioned, noting that he’s happy Rocky isn’t going to burst out of his chest. It’s a small moment, but one that shows that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had Alien in mind at times while working on the film.
- Release Date
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March 20, 2026
- Runtime
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156 Minutes
- Director
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Christopher Miller, Phil Lord
- Writers
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Drew Goddard, Andy Weir
- Producers
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Ryan Gosling, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Aditya Sood, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O’Connor
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