Ryan Gosling’s upcoming sci-fi movie Project Hail Mary looks to be everything I wanted from Adam Sandler’s astronaut Netflix film based on new footage revealed at CinemaCon 2025. Gosling, who previously played astronaut Neil Armstrong in Damien Chazelle’s First Man, is geared up to star in Project Hail Mary, which could be his best sci-fi movie since Denis Villenueve’s Blade Runner 2049. Project Hail Mary is currently set to hit theaters in 2026.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street), Project Hail Mary is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Andy Weir, the celebrated author of The Martian, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated Ridley Scott movie. The Martian screenwriter Drew Goddard, who is also behind projects such as Netflix’s Daredevil, Cloverfield, and The Cabin in the Woods, has also written the screenplay for Project Hail Mary. All these ingredients are setting up Project Hail Mary to be incredibly promising.
Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary Can Make Up For Adam Sandler’s Underwhelming Spaceman Movie
Spaceman Received Mixed Reviews & Wasn’t Much Of A Hit On Netflix In 2024
Based on the established premise of Project Hail Mary, the upcoming Gosling film should center around a serious space mission with humor involved. Similar to the recent Bong Joon-ho film Mickey 17 starring Robert Pattinson, which was also based on a book, Project Hail Mary should effectively blend sci-fi and comedy to tell its story. This makes perfect sense for Gosling who, despite being a fantastic dramatic actor, has flexed his comedic muscles in recent blockbusters such as Barbie and The Fall Guy.
Another film that comes to mind when thinking of Project Hail Mary is 2024’s Spaceman starring Adam Sandler and Paul Dano as an alien arachnoid. Spaceman was released straight to Netflix in February 2024 and was unexpectedly serious for a Sandler movie. While Sandler has taken on more dramatic roles in recent years, Spaceman certainly could have used some more comedic elements, considering Sandler’s talents. Spaceman, based on the book “Spaceman of Bohemia” by Jaroslav Kalfar, only received a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Project Hail Mary Also Includes An Alien Like In Spaceman
Actor James Ortiz Will Portray Rocky In Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary and Spaceman do share one similarity in the form of characters not from this world. Rocky is a spider-like alien in Project Hail Mary, similar to Paul Dano’s arachnoid creature in Spaceman. Sandler’s Jakub is able to communicate with Dano’s character named Hanus, who possesses a universal spiritual wisdom.
Rocky is a skilled engineer in Project Hail Mary, whereas Hanus is more of a metaphysical guide in Spaceman.
Rocky has five legs in the Project Hail Mary book, while Hanus has eight and six eyes in Spaceman. Rocky is also a skilled engineer in Project Hail Mary, whereas Hanus is more of a metaphysical guide in Spaceman. It will be interesting to see whether Gosling’s Project Hail Mary film stays true to Rocky’s character from the book.
