By Movieguide® Staff
Ryan Gosling puts the responsibility to keep theaters going on directly the entertainment industry’s shoulders.
“Six years ago, I got the manuscript,” Gosling said during a New York screening of his latest movie, PROJECT HAIL MARY. “[It’s] the most ambitious thing I’ll ever make; it seemed impossible. It was too good not to give it a shot. Six years later, we did it. Here we are, we’re all back in theaters. It’s not your job to keep them open; it’s our job to make things that make it worth you coming out.”
It looks like Gosling and the rest of the PROJECT HAIL MARY team did their job; the movie debuted with $140.9 million, making it the highest opening for a movie in 2026 so far.
PROJECT HAIL MARY was reviewed positively by Movieguide®. The review praises its “humor and heart,” as well as its “lovely reference to God and faith midway in the story.”
“PROJECT HAIL MARY is a terrific space adventure with lots of humor and heart,” it adds. “It’s a thoroughly uplifting movie with little objectionable content such as two minor references to evolution. Those mentions are counterbalanced by the movie’s Christian title.”
Gosling remarked on the family-friendly elements of the movie in an interview with Scary Mommy, saying, “Eva [Mendes, his longtime partner] and I look for films like that, that we could go to with our kids. And there just aren’t many. There aren’t any E.Ts or BACK TO THE FUTUREs or those films that you remember where you were and who you were with and that sort of stay with you through your life.”
“I just am so grateful to Andy [Weir] that I got it,” he continued. “I feel like we made one of those with this. I wanted that for my kids, and I want that for their generation — to have Andy’s perspective that you’re capable of so much more than you’re being told and you’re capable of even more than you think.”
During an appearance on THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW, the actor shared the message he hopes young viewers take away from PROJECT HAIL MARY: “The future isn’t something to fear. Rather, just [something] to be figured out.”
“I really wanted that for my kids,” Gosling continued. “I just feel like everything is trying to scare them, and I wanted something [different].”
PROJECT HAIL MARY’s success at the box office shows that, as long as Hollywood continues making content with positive and uplifting messages, audiences will show up.
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