Amazon’s Mike Hopkins Says Their Investment In Theatrical Films Benefits Both Box Office Revenue & Streaming: “This Is The Year Where We Have Some Of Our Biggest, Boldest Bets Coming On & Then We Have A Lot Planned For 2027, 2028, 2029. I Really Think We’re In The First Half Of The First Inning.”

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“A decade after it got into the movie business, Amazon has its first major box-office hit.

“Project Hail Mary,” a science-fiction adventure starring Ryan Gosling, opened to an estimated $80.5 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend.

It is the biggest-ever debut for a film produced by the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant and the biggest opening for any Hollywood film not part of an existing franchise since “Oppenheimer” in the summer of 2023.

Internationally, “Hail Mary” grossed $60.4 million, opening at No. 1 in nearly every market except China, where it came in behind Disney-Pixar’s animated “Hoppers.”

Amazon has tried multiple film strategies since adding streaming video to its Prime subscription service in the early 2010s. It first focused on prestigious independent movies such as “Manchester by the Sea,” then released big-budget movies directly online during the pandemic including Eddie Murphy’s “Coming 2 America.”

After acquiring the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film and TV studio in 2022, the renamed Amazon MGM Studios settled on an approach similar to traditional competitors like Universal and Warner Bros.: releasing around 15 films in theaters each year, including some with big budgets.

It has had a handful of modest successes and flops since then, but “Hail Mary” represents its most ambitious and expensive release, with a production budget of some $200 million.

Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon MGM, said the studio decided to invest in its own theatrically released films both to benefit from box-office revenue and because he wants them for Prime Video, which he also oversees.

“If it was a really good movie, it’s going to do really well when it comes to a streaming service,” he said in an interview.

Buying the rights to theatrical movies from other studios, he added, has gotten difficult because of the proliferation of streaming competitors. “We’ve got a lot more people that want to buy those movies over the last four or five years than studios making them,” Hopkins said.

MGM acquired the rights to make “Project Hail Mary” in 2020 for $3 million, a person familiar with the matter said. That is a big number for book rights in Hollywood, reflecting how badly studios wanted a new project from Andy Weir, author of the book behind the 2015 box-office hit “The Martian.”

“Project Hail Mary” started shooting in 2024 with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, known for “21 Jump Street,” “The Lego Movie” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” directing.

“Hail Mary” performed particularly well on IMAX screens, and exit polls showed its audience leaned male but included people of all ages. Opening-night crowds gave it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore, suggesting word-of-mouth should be strong.

Because it is new to the movie business, Amazon has few established franchises. Its biggest coming releases include June’s “Masters of the Universe,” based on the He-Man toy line popular in the 1980s, and a remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair” starring Michael B. Jordan that comes out next year.

Amazon is also developing the next movie in the James Bond franchise, which it partially acquired from MGM and locked down in a subsequent deal with the movies’ longtime producers. The studio has yet to cast the titular spy or set a release date for the movie, which will be directed by “Dune’s” Denis Villeneuve.

“This is the year where we have some of our biggest, boldest bets coming on and then we have a lot planned for ’27 and ’28 and ’29,” said Hopkins. “I really do think we’re in the first half of the first inning.””

It’s nice to see MGM back in the big leagues where it belongs, and not just with *Rocky* or 007. Excited to see where they go from here!