Project Hail Mary continues to draw fan praise after screenings
Early public screenings of the film Project Hail Mary earned praise for the emotional intensity of key scenes and the chemistry between protagonist Ryland Grace and the alien Rocky. Viewers singled out the movie's quiet character beats, strong visual effects, and its faithfulness to Andy Weir's novel, and many are calling on the studio for a director's-cut to restore extra material. That blend of hard-science plotting and heartfelt relationship work distinguishes the film within recent science-fiction releases. A director's-cut could deepen character arcs and boost the film's awards-season and box-office momentum.
I'd add a whole range of movies--as varied as Weapons, The Housemaid, The Sheep Detectives, Project Hail Mary, The Drama, Iron Lung, and Michael--to make a case that we might be embarking on the first big realignment in ages. (Note: No sequels, and exactly one studio film out of the 9 I've named.)
Mark Harris246I'm watching the last of the old-guard studios labor and sweat to drag their ancient mainstays--Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Fast/Furious, etc.--into the 2030s, and it feels like just enough of them will succeed to convince those in charge not to look down and see the ground vanishing beneath their feet.
OG_McDuck48Sinners. I remember the derision heaped on the deal. The Penske studio media freaked out at the idea of that much money and control and ownership given over for something original (and Black)! Then it ate everyone's lunch and dinner at the box office.
24,805 words18Audiences are tapped out on franchises because Disney has made them feel too much like you didn’t do all the homework necessary for this movie, but everyone spent the last 10 years chasing the tail of the cinematic universe and studio heads don’t know how to make actual new movies anymore.
Bob Chipman ("MovieBob")15Color me skeptical. I remember when Blair Witch was also going to change everything; and we're arguably still in the blast-radius of the REAL realignment which was COVID and this is the reversion to mean (horror being a draw? Not new. Frontloaded blockbusters? Normal.)
James Sanford9Several of us at Alamo Drafthouse were discussing this a few years ago when it was clear a lot of moviegoers were fed up with reboots and cookie-cutter Marvel movies. It always takes so long for studios to accept that yesterday’s “sure-fire” is tomorrow’s “tired.”
Brian Braunlich7This feels like the coming to fruition of what Barbenheimer suggested - a yearning for quality original filmmaking. Michael aside.
Allison🇨🇦 & The Blowfish2Project Hail Mary is so special. They want us to settle for AI slop, fully CGI scenes, and big names shoehorned into every animation role. Choosing to have a full team of puppeteers and use James Ortiz’ voice (the lead puppeteer) was so brilliant.
Daniel Quinn2None of those films showed the imagination, innovation, or quality of Obsession and Backrooms and all had the patina of studio palatability on them For a realignment, we need movement away from big star vehicles like Project Hail Mary paying 10+ for stars when Inde Navarettes are out there
