Project Hail Mary is the best sci-fi movie of the year and makes a strong case to join the list of the genre’s best releases to date, and these six sci-fi movies that flopped deserved to be as big as it, be it through their box office or in terms of reputation. Ryan Gosling is one of Hollywood’s most charismatic stars.
That is a key factor in why Project Hail Mary stands out as such a beloved movie. That said, it is far from the only reason behind the hard sci-fi film’s global success on Prime Video, in terms of streaming, and its gargantuan box office effort in theaters. Project Hail Mary is based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name.
The author’s work was also used in the past for another thrilling sci-fi survival story with plenty of science and a charming astronaut. That would be Matt Damon’s The Martian. As such, Project Hail Mary comes from the perfect sci-fi heritage. That said, in its own right, it makes saving the Sun an adventure full of wonder, hardships, love, and hope.
Project Hail Mary is also a visually stunning film. Adding all those elements and even more not mentioned here, and its box office total of $684.3 million worldwide against a reported budget of $200 million makes a lot of sense. That said, there are six sci-fi movies that were box office flops in the past decade, but deserved a similar level of success as Project Hail Mary. In no specific order, they are:
6
Annihilation
First up is Annihilation. The 2018 sci-fi movie’s star-studded cast alone made this a project worth watching. Annihilation features stars like Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac, Benedict Wong, and more. The sci-fi movie focuses on Portman’s Lena as she joins an all-female expedition into the Shimmer, a quarantine zone where her husband, Isaac’s Kane, had disappeared into. The Shimmer is a place where plants, animals, and more are mutating, with time shifting around them, and great horrors awaiting in this R-rated sci-fi thriller.
Beyond just a talented ensemble and an intriguing story, Annihilation also boasts a stellar 88% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 332 reviews. In the end, the sci-fi movie deserved better than its box office. Annihilation finished its theatrical run with just $43.1 million worldwide. Based on a reported budget of $55 million, Portman’s dark sci-fi movie needed to finish between $110 million and $137.5 million to break even. Directed by Alex Garland, the sci-fi movie with horror elements presented enough thrills to have fared better.
5
Ad Astra
Brad Pitt has numerous box office hits throughout his career, but, sadly, Ad Astra was not one of them. The sci-fi movie follows Pitt as Roy Richard McBride, an astronaut making his way across space to find his lost father, who had been presumed dead decades prior. The latter is played by Tommy Lee Jones, and his desire to find alien life is behind what could be the end of humanity. As such, this space story is anchored in very real emotion and poses questions about humanity.
Ad Astra is a brilliant effort in a character study in space. It is a psychological sci-fi using the vastness of space to tackle isolation, self-doubt, and more. Pitt is phenomenal in it, and he is not only joined by Jones, but a talented cast that includes names like Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland, Ruth Negga, Natasha Lyonne, and more. Ad Astra holds a high 83% critics’ score based on 397 reviews. Pitt’s sci-fi movie deserved better than $135.2 million box office against an $80 million budget.
4
Love And Monsters
Love and Monsters is a movie that carries the same kind of hopeful tone and wonder of Gosling’s Project Hail Mary, led by a charismatic and energetic lead performance from Dylan O’Brien as Joel. Love and Monsters focuses on Joel as he makes his way across a post-apocalyptic landscape crawling with monsters alongside his dog to try to find his girlfriend, Jessica Henwick’s Aimee, after they got separated at the start of the apocalypse, seven years ago.
Love and Monsters is a sci-fi movie that is full of heart, features high-stakes action, and was loved by both critics and viewers alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, O’Brien’s sci-fi adventure boasts a near-perfect 94% critics’ score based on 116 reviews. It also carries a high 89% audience score. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Love and Monsters had a limited theatrical run and debuted on VOD. Had the film been released in theaters with a wide run, it had the potential to become a Project Hail Mary-like hit, but Love and Monsters only brought in $1.1 million.
3
The Creator
The Creator is one of the most visually stunning sci-fi movies. The fact that the kind of futuristic visuals achieved with life-like effects that make them feel extremely real was done on an $80 million budget instead of the hundreds of millions that genre franchises like Star Wars and Dune get to operate with is nothing short of innovative. The Creator follows John David Washington as Sergeant Joshua Taylor, one of the humans who survived a nuclear attack in Los Angeles and fights against a reigning AI.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, a genre connoisseur who has helmed sci-fi movies like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Jurassic World Rebirth, the movie has pitch-perfect CGI, an enormous scale, intriguing world-building, and a timely debate about humanity and AI at its center. The Creator needed to finish between $160 million and $200 million to break even. The fact that it only made 104.3 million is tragic. Its cast also features Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Ralph Ineson, and more.
2
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga flopping at the box office is one of the most disappointing such cases for any movie ever, something that is repeated for the final entry on the list. The latest Mad Max movie was perfectly infused with director George Miller’s style, presenting a gritty and energetic look at the iconic post-apocalyptic universe. Anya Taylor-Joy was perfectly cast as the young Furiosa, making the character’s backstory just as exciting as what we got to see from Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga stands tall at a near-perfect 90% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 426 reviews. The sci-fi movie was also met with positive reception from moviegoers, as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is at an excellent 88% audience score. Sadly, the movie proved itself a major box office bomb, grossing only $174.5 million against a $168 million budget. The fact that Marvel’s Thor star Chris Hemsworth gave one of his best performances as the villain Dementus adds to the tragic nature of the movie’s box office failure.
1
Blade Runner 2049
Finally, if we are talking about the sci-fi movie flops that deserved to be as big as Gosling’s Project Hail Mary, then there is no way that this cyberpunk masterpiece starring the actor could be left out. Blade Runner 2049 is brimming with talent from all sides. It was directed by Denis Villeneuve, a sci-fi master that has since gone on to direct the Dune trilogy, and brings back Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard in addition to a star-studded new cast.
Gosling plays K, the main Blade Runner of the movie, with actors like Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Jared Leto, and more delivering nuanced performances in this heady sci-fi cyberpunk movie. The neon-soaked futuristic street, the advanced technology, and the deep discussion about what it means to be human make Blade Runner 2049 one of the most immersive and impactful sci-fi movies ever. Its box office of $259.2 million against a budget of $185 million was not nearly as high as it should have been. Blade Runner 2049 deserved the same success as Project Hail Mary, but at least its genius has been recognized.
