“Project Hail Mary” is a science fiction movie directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, produced by Amazon MGM Studios. The movie released on Mar. 20, 2026, and made $80 million in the U.S. alone on its opening weekend.
The film is based on a book of the same name written by Andy Weir, who was also author of the blockbuster book and film, “The Martian.” Based on that success, Amazon and Ryan Gosling acquired rights to “Project Hail Mary” in 2020 before the book was even published.
“The book and the movie were similar, however the book captures a lot more of the emotion and the process that leads to him being a part of the project,” Manolis Loukas, senior, said.
“Project Hail Mary” follows a middle school science teacher named Ryland Grace who is recruited by a task force searching for ways to stop a deadly microbe known as “astrophage.” This microbe is actively eating away at the sun through the Petrova Line, a faint infrared line from the sun to Venus made up of astrophage.
After finding out exactly what astrophage is, Eva Stratt, a high-up in the task force, tells Grace about their plan to send people on a one way trip to a distant solar system unaffected by astrophage to figure out how to stop it. The plan is titled “Project Hail Mary” because it is a last ditch effort to save humanity.
Just before the mission, however, two crewmates die in an explosion, leading to Grace having to take the place of the scientist on board. Grace is put into an induced coma on the shuttle and sent on the mission, waking up four years later to find his two other crew members dead, leaving him completely alone in space.
“This concept was so interesting to me and I thought the way they did the timeline of everything off the ship happening as a flashback was really good,” Mia Kapetanovich, junior, said.
After accepting his reality, Grace encounters an alien ship which tries to communicate to him several times without Grace’s understanding. Eventually, a tunnel between the two ships is placed, leading Grace to walk through until he is met with a strange rock-like alien behind a large glass wall, who he calls “Rocky” and sets up a translation system for him.
“Rocky was definitely one of the things that made this movie so good and everything he said was so funny,” Kapetanovich said.
Grace learns that Rocky’s species is endangered by astrophage and together they find the predator that kills the astrophage so they can save both of their own kind.
After destroying the Petrova Line, Grace says his goodbyes to Rocky and embarks on a mission back to Earth using the astrophage as fuel for his return. However, he makes the decision to return to Rocky to repair his damaged ship, saving him from death.
In the end, Grace travels to Rocky’s planet to live there and continue his teaching career with Rocky’s species.
“Two scenes that really stood out to me were Grace floating in the Petrova Line with the red lights everywhere and Rocky ‘sacrificing’ himself to save Grace,” Loukas said.
The shared moments between Grace and Rocky create the perfect blend of both comedy and emotion, making “Project Hail Mary” easily one of the most impressive movies to release recently.
“I thought everything was great. I was worried I would be bored or wouldn’t be able to pay attention but I was captivated the entire time and really enjoyed it,” Kapetanovich said.
