‘Project Hail Mary’ blasts off with $141m at worldwide box office; ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ strong with $81m debut

Worldwide box office: March 20-22

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘Project Hail Mary’ sets Amazon MGM opening record

Amazon MGM Studios is celebrating the successful launch of its Project Hail Mary, beginning with an estimated $80.6m in North America plus $60.4m across 82 international markets. Those numbers combine to deliver a $141.0m global opening – a record for Amazon MGM.

It’s only the third non-sequel/non-franchise film to open above $50m in international markets since Covid, joining F1 and Oppenheimer. Project Hail Mary has also achieved the biggest opening of the year so far for a US studio film, beating Scream 7 ($97.2m worldwide).

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and adapted from Andy Weir’s 2021 science fiction novel, Project Hail Mary has opened at the top spot in 60-plus international markets. The international pack is led by UK/Ireland with an estimated $10.2m including previews from the previous weekend.

China ranks second among international markets with an estimated $7.1m, ahead of Australia ($5.0m), South Korea ($4.3m), Germany ($4.1m) and Mexico ($3.0m). France and Japan are tied with $2.6m.

Imax screens contributed an estimated $27.6m for Project Hail Mary – just under 20% of the total.

So far, the film has reached 90% of its international footprint, with Spain, India and Malaysia all opening the film this coming weekend, and Indonesia to follow on April 8.

Ryan Gosling stars as a school science teacher despatched to a far corner of the universe to reverse an alteration in our own solar system that would usher in a new ice age and end human life on Earth.

Previously, the film adaptation of Weir’s The Martian reached a powerful $630.6m in 2015, powered by strong word-of-mouth and a sustained run. (This comparison is not adjusted for inflation.) Other comparison titles for Project Hail Mary are Gravity ($723.8m worldwide in 2013) and Interstellar ($773.9m worldwide in 2014).

‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ makes powerful start

Landing in second place at the worldwide box office is Indian spy action thriller Dhurandhar: The Revenge – a direct sequel to Dhurandhar, which was released last December.

Written and directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar: The Revenge has opened with an estimated $46.6m in 18 international markets (including India), and $67.0m including previews. In North America, those estimated numbers are $10.0m and $14.0m.

Worldwide, the film has opened with $81.0m including previews.

The Revenge has begun its run at a much faster pace than last year’s Dhurandhar, which opened with $16.1m worldwide, including India, North America and 13 additional international markets. Lifetime total is $137.2m.

Hindi-language Dhurandhar: The Revenge was shot back-to-back with Dhurandhar, and stars Ranveer Singh alongside Arjun Rampal and Sanjay Dutt. The two films loosely draw inspiration from real-life geopolitical events in South Asia.

‘Hoppers’ hits $243m total

Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers added an estimated $52.2m worldwide in its third weekend of play, taking the cumulative total to $242.6m. That total ranks Hoppers second among 2026 releases at the worldwide box office, behind only Chinese lunar new year holiday release Pegasus 3.

Hoppers declined by 37% from the previous weekend in North America, and by 33% in international holdover markets. The film opened in China with an estimated $9.6m, topping the box office (ahead of Project Hail Mary). The China number is the biggest opening for an original animation from a US studio since Coco in 2017.

Among international markets, UK/Ireland leads with $12.7m so far, ahead of Mexico ($11.2m), Germany ($9.6m) and now China ($9.6m). In France ($7.7m), Hoppers has had to compete with local family-friendly hit Marsupilami (5.5million admissions).

Also for Disney, Searchlight Pictures’ Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come opened in North America (an estimated $9.1m) and in 21 first-wave international markets ($2.8m). The latter comprise 31% of the international landscape by value – and with key markets including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Japan and Mexico all yet to come.

In August 2019, Ready Or Not opened with $8.0m in North America, and the film reached $57.6m worldwide lifetime. That was deemed a profitable outcome given a production budget reported at $6m. Production budget for Here I Come is reported at $14m.

Both films are directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, members of filmmaking collective Radio Silence. The pair also directed the fifth Scream film (aka Scream), and Scream VI.

‘The King’s Warden’ passes $100m

South Korean local hit The King’s Warden (aka The Man Who Lives With The King) remains in the worldwide top 10 chart in its seventh week of release, and has just pushed past $100m at the worldwide box office. The film is playing in South Korea, North America ($2.7m to date) and three other international markets according to Comscore data tracking. South Korea overwhelmingly accounts for the $97.3m box office achieved outside North America.

Spending a second week inside the worldwide top 10 chart is Spanish local hit action comedy Torrente, Presidente – the sixth film in a series from Santiago Segura. Takings after two weekends of play are now $19.4m.

One place above Torrente, Presidente in the chart is Indian Malayam-language film Aadu 3, the third instalment of the Aadu franchise, and the first of a two-part film. The first two Aadu films were released respectively in 2015 and 2017.

• ‘Project Hail Mary’ scores top North American box office debut of 2026 in Amazon MGM Studios record