As expected by film industry analysts, “Project Hail Mary” retained its crown at the box office in the absence of major Hollywood releases over the recently concluded weekend. And the weekend's only notable new release, the horror film “They Will Kill You,” was a total flop, earning just $5 million at the North American box office, Variety reports.
“They Will Kill You” stars American actress Zazie Beetz as a maid hired to clean an apartment in a skyscraper with a past marked by mysterious disappearances.
Patricia Arquette, Heather Graham, Tom Felton and Myha'la also star in the film, which was directed by Russian filmmaker Kirill Sokolov, a critic of the war in Ukraine living in exile.
The film, released under the banner of Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, cost only $20 million to produce, but the result at the box office in its debut weekend is disastrous given that theater owners generally keep 50% of the sums obtained from ticket sales.
Even though “They Will Kill You” opened in third place at the North American box office and took in another $4 million internationally, it would be a miracle for the film to recoup its costs, since horror films typically experience a steep decline in earnings after their opening weekend.
The film's cause, released last Friday, isn't helped by the fact that it hasn't impressed critics, with just a 65% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. For a horror movie it's not necessarily bad, but from regular moviegoers who saw it in theaters it only has a 6.5 rating on IMDb.
Slow start to the year for some of the Warner Bros. movies
One of the reasons the new film is getting attention, though, is because it was made under the leadership of Warner Bros. executives Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who helped launch Project Hail Mary when they ran Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
After leaving MGM to take over at Warner Bros, they had a fabulous 2025 at the box office, with films such as 'Sinners', 'A Minecraft Movie' and 'Weapons' proving major commercial successes.
But 2026 started difficult for De Luca and Abdy. “They Will Kill You” comes just weeks after “The Bride!”, a $90 million steampunk reimagining of “The Bride of Frankenstein,” flopped miserably, grossing just $23.2 million.
It's a pale consolation that “They Will Kill You” isn't the only recently released horror film that's had trouble drawing audiences into theaters. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” flopped in its second weekend of release, earning $4 million for a modest $16.3 million North American total.
“Project Hail Mary” continues its stellar run at the box office
“Project Hail Mary,” starring Ryan Gosling as a professor on a desperate space mission to save the planet, effortlessly dominated the box office for the second weekend in a row, earning an impressive $54.5 million in North America alone.
The beginning of the year was not without commercial successes in cinemas, such as the horror film “Scream 7” or the animated feature film “Hoppers”, but “Project Hail Mary” is shaping up to be the first real “blockbuster” of the year, having already taken 164.3 million dollars in the domestic market of Hollywood.
“Project Hail Mary” was down just 32 percent from its opening weekend, a sign that it will have a long run in theaters amid stellar reviews from critics and high marks from audiences. The result is all the more impressive because, being a production of the Amazon MGM studio, viewers know that it will eventually also be seen in streaming on the Prime Video platform, which in the US has over 200 million subscribers.
“Project Hail Mary” also confirms Ryan Gosling's status as an actor capable of bringing audiences to theaters. The new feature basically revolves around the performance of the Oscar-nominated star of “Barbie” and “La La Land,” and it's being rewarded with one of the best reviews of his career.
Disney and Pixar's animated film “Hoppers” took second place over the weekend with an additional $12.2 million. After its first four weeks of release, the family-friendly film has grossed $138.6 million in North America and $297.6 million globally.
It's still too early for a verdict, as animated films for the whole family often attract viewers to cinemas for months.
But given that “Hoopers” had a production budget of $150 million, below Disney's average, it would appear to mark a return to form for the beloved Pixar studio in the US entertainment giant's portfolio.
