Project Hail Mary has been on a generational run in theaters, earning over $500 million at the box office in its initial month of release, despite not being a sequel or franchise movie, and easily bypassing Creed 3 as Amazon MGM’s biggest theatrical release ever.
Though you might think Amazon would be in a rush to get this film out on its Amazon Prime Video service as soon as possible, representatives for the studio have said that they are actually going to be waiting a little bit longer before bringing this sci-fi film to the small screen as part of their commitment to theatrical releases. Here’s what’s going on:
Project Hail Mary gets an extended theatrical release
Amazon commits to big theatrical releases
While studios like Netflix and Apple have recently been doing short 1-2 week theatrical runs for their biggest hit movies, Amazon, which owns MGM studios, is taking a different approach that prioritizes the theatrical experience. At Cinema Con (an exhibition for theater owners and operators) this week, Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins addressed this difference specifically, saying, “While some of our competitors have dipped their toes in and out of the theatrical waters, for us, this isn’t a test or an experiment.”
Following this statement, Hopkins brought out Project Hail Mary star Ryan Gosling and filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who announced that, due to the film’s unprecedented success (as well as support from Amazon) the movie would be getting an extended release in theaters.
When will Project Hail Mary be on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix?
Probably late this summer
The traditional theater to streaming window is about 45 days for non-Netflix/Apple TV films. And while that would have originally put Project Hail Mary’s streaming debut date in May on VOD platforms (with an Amazon Prime Video release potentially in the summer) the extended theatrical run announcement puts a bit of a wrench into those plans.
Though nothing has been announced, with this new schedule, it seems likely that the film will now be available to purchase this summer, with an Amazon Prime Video release in the fall, potentially in time for the holiday season.
What is truly unknown is whether Project Hail Mary will stream on Netflix. Amazon-MGM has licensed films on Netflix before, but considering how much of a hit Project Hail Mary is turning out to be, it would make sense for them to keep it exclusive to Amazon Prime Video, at least for a year or two. So while the possibility exists for this movie to stream on Netflix, it probably won’t be for a very long time, if it happens at all.
