Project Hail Mary North America Box Office: Less Than $10 Million Away From Surpassing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Find out exactly how much Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary needs to earn in North America to surpass the domestic earnings of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

- May 28, 2026 | 2:17 PM IST

Project Hail Mary Box Office (Photo Credit: Instagram)

Ryan Gosling’s latest film, Project Hail Mary, which is based on Andy Weir’s 2021 sci-fi novel of the same name, hit the big screen on March 20, 2026, and is about to complete ten weeks in theaters. With a current worldwide total of $676.8 million, it has not only surpassed its $200 million production budget but also generated an estimated $176.8 million in theatrical profit beyond its $500 million break-even point, using the 2.5x multiplier rule.

Domestic Box Office Performance

At the domestic box office, Project Hail Mary earned $109.8 million in its opening week (March 20-26) across 4,007 North American locations and recently added another $5.9 million over the May 15-21 week. Then, it earned an additional $3.6 million during the May 22-25 Memorial Day weekend, bringing its current cumulative domestic total to $340.8 million. At the time of writing, the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller-directed sci-fi feature ranks among the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time at the domestic box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

After recently outgrossing several popular hits like Jurassic World: Rebirth, Spider-Man 3, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, it is now closing in on the North American earnings of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Keep reading to find out how much more Project Hail Mary needs to earn to outgross it at the domestic box office.

Project Hail Mary vs. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Box Office Comparison

Here’s how the two films compare at the box office, according to data from Box Office Mojo.

Project Hail Mary – Box Office Summary

North America: $340.8 million
International: $336 million
Worldwide: $676.8 million

In comparison, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers earned $350.1 million in North America, according to Box Office Mojo’s all-time domestic chart. This indicates that Project Hail Mary needs to earn another $9.3 million to surpass the domestic total of the second installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Ryan Gosling-starrer is in the later stages of its theatrical run, and it is competing with newer releases like Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Obsession, and Michael. So, if it registers sharp weekly drops over its remaining theatrical run, closing that $9.6 million gap may be a challenging task for the sci-fi film. That said, it’s not an impossible target to achieve, and the final outcome will become clearer in the coming weeks.

What Is Project Hail Mary All About?

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film follows Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a schoolteacher who wakes up alone on an interstellar spacecraft with no memory of how he got there. As his memories gradually return, he discovers he has been sent on a high-stakes mission to stop a mysterious phenomenon that is draining the Sun’s energy and threatening life on Earth.