DropThe Article

Originally published on DropThe.org . $200M Budget (No Franchise, No Sequel) 95% / 98% RT Critics / Audience $12M Thursday Previews (2nd Best Ever for Originals) Someone at Amazon MGM looked at the numbers — 200 million dollars for a movie based on a book most people haven’t read, starring an actor whose last big-budget film lost money, directed by the guys who made The Lego Movie — and said yes. On paper, that’s insane. In practice, it might be the smartest bet anyone in Hollywood has made in years. Project Hail Mary opens today. Thursday previews came in at $12 million, the second-best ever for a non-franchise, non-sequel film. Only IT in 2017 did better. It beat Oppenheimer’s previews. Critics gave it 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it 98%. The question isn’t whether it’s good. The question is whether good is enough to justify $200 million on something that isn’t part of a cinematic universe. We looked at every original film ever made at this budget level to find out. The $15