ListNook

Upbeat_Tension_8077 Mar 29, 2026 +1305

I'd love it if the success of this boosts Lord and Miller into becoming go-to directors for more blockbuster sci-fi adventure films

1305

baconbananapancakes Mar 29, 2026 +711

Huge credit to them for pushing for practical effects and sets where possible. I hope studios are starting to see that viewers connect with reality, even if they don’t even know if they’re watching a puppet.

711

Testone1440 Mar 29, 2026 +253

Wait….Rocky was a puppet?! Damn just learning this. No wonder it looked so good.

253

GamingTitBit Mar 29, 2026 +217

To be fair, he was CGI for a lot! But all the CGI had a stand in puppet that gave direction, allowed ad libbing and interaction, gave Gosling something to look at and tied it into the real world. Some of what you see on the screen is just puppet with strings and wires removed. But from behind the scenes whenever he's walking around in the ball, they just have the ball and CGI him in. But even then it looks like they got the puppeteers to use a puppet to track what walking looks like with the puppet so the CGI looks consistent with the rest of the movie.

217

jklemony Mar 29, 2026 +45

Okay, I was about to say. That puppeteer needs to be a surgeon or something with how smooth everything was

45

GamingTitBit Mar 29, 2026 +48

The behind the scenes is really interesting as to how many different variants of Rocky there were. There was an animatronics one, and a macro motion one, and then a micro motion one, a CGI miniature for them to record the walking in the computer etc

48

Tanathonos Mar 29, 2026 +12

Any links on the BTS stuff?

12

monkeyhitman Mar 30, 2026 +1

Adam Savage did 4 videos covering BTS stuff: https://youtu.be/CO6oyFP14rU https://youtu.be/jAGedfNAf4M https://youtu.be/OUSwAUaMaiQ https://youtu.be/pUaxIn1N8ZI

1

Thechosenjon Mar 29, 2026 +34

Amaze amaze amaze!

34

baconbananapancakes Mar 29, 2026 +98

Not just that — the puppeteer also did his voice!

98

waitforthedream Mar 29, 2026 +15

Yes! So good, right? I would love more puppetry in movies

15

darkenseyreth Mar 29, 2026 +38

If you haven't seen them, Adam Savage has several in-depth behind the scenes videos on his Tested channel. The amount of work that went into the practical effects for the movie is astounding

38

iTabula Mar 29, 2026 +157

Btwn them and Denis Villeneuve, we’re in good hands with blockbuster sci-fi.

157

MD_Lincoln Mar 29, 2026 +29

With Villeneuve wrapping up Dune this year, it immensely curious to see what his next movie is

29

Notsincetheaccident1 Mar 29, 2026 +31

He will be doing the next James Bond. Not sure when it's supposed to come out though. [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn41yddj4m1o](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn41yddj4m1o)

31

MawsonAntarctica Mar 29, 2026 +17

The name is Haderach. Kwisatz Haderach.

17

haruku63 Mar 29, 2026 +12

I hope he really does “Rendezvous with Rama” some day.

12

Tandybaum Mar 29, 2026 +18

I want another season of Last Man On Earth

18

4DimensionalButts Mar 29, 2026 +12

"Children of Time" next please.

12

3verythingEverywher3 Mar 29, 2026 +8

They’ve had a LOT of success already. They’re not new. They pick their projects, so it’s a really question of them choosing to do more sci fi rather than them being offered it.

8

x2040 Mar 29, 2026 +9

They got fired from Solo the star wars movie; you can tell what parts of the movie were them, it’s wild. Apparently a lot people don’t like their style of direction but the output is amazing Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, Spider-verse, Hail Mary…

9

DazeandFade Mar 29, 2026 +3853

Just saw it last night, great movie. Was a really nice change of pace to see such a hopeful movie.

3853

SerDire Mar 29, 2026 +1611

I know this is said nonstop but as a book reader, I was pleasantly surprised they managed to keep the linear story and heart of it pretty much intact. Aside from like 2 scenes, everything is ripped straight from the pages. Apparently following a book pretty faithfully translates well on screen, what a secret.

1611

Spectrum1523 Mar 29, 2026 +616

Yeah. They Grogu-ified Rocky a little bit, and skipped the science, but that was fine. The heart of the story was there, it was lovely visually, and it was quite faithful to the original.

616

WellHung67 Mar 29, 2026 +220

They did try to do the science - but it was so fast they didn’t really dig into it. If you know what relativity is, you’d catch it but if you forgot you’d easily miss it. I liked how they did the voice, i was wondering how they’d do it. In the book Grace becomes fluent so I was thinking maybe subtitles? But they nailed it, absolutely great choice to make it audible and add the comedic relief element. Really shows the art and the skill to pull off something like this

220

Spectrum1523 Mar 29, 2026 +89

You should check out the audiobook - the way they do his voice in there is also really good. But I liked a lot how they did it in the film too.

89

flamingspew Mar 29, 2026 +87

Skipped the part of explaining why rocky had extra fuel because they didn’t understand time dilation… was my biggest dissapoint

87

RedditLostOldAccount Mar 29, 2026 +86

He mentioned briefly in the movie that he had to explain things to Rocky because his kind didn't know about time dilation, but it was brief.

86

davesoverhere Mar 29, 2026 +38

Aksi didn’t really explain that Rocky’s homeworld >!had a thick, opaque atmosphere !< and that was probably why he didn’t have eyes. They were also a bit light on the explanation that he was the engineer on his ship.

38

NePa5 Mar 30, 2026 +24

> it light on the explanation that he was the engineer on his ship "Rocky was just engineer" (in Rocky's voice) is said MULTIPLE times, did they need a flashing neon sign as well.

24

Lord_Rapunzel Mar 30, 2026 +19

These are details that don't impact the narrative at all though, and trimming stuff like that is a necessary part of movie adaptation. Most of the audience doesn't actually care about the little justifications like that and the people that *do* can probably infer it on their own.

19

SanityInAnarchy Mar 29, 2026 +14

They did have him getting fluent enough for subtitles, they just saved it for the end.

14

Chip_Hazard Mar 29, 2026 +365

I actually really respect the filmmakers for not going too far to make rocky cute. At the end of the day he was still a rock spider without a face which I totally thought would be the first thing they change for the movie haha

365

Spectrum1523 Mar 29, 2026 +89

yeah true lol. he really looked good.

89

trexmoflex Mar 29, 2026 +100

All the practical effects (the puppet work was SO good) really did a lot of heavy lifting (lol) here. Rocky was fantastic.

100

Crimkam Mar 29, 2026 +60

The puppeteer was also his voice. I bet that helped a lot! He did an amazing job.

60

DJIcEIcE Mar 29, 2026 +41

I read that James Ortiz (head puppeteer) thought his dialogue was going to be replaced by a more famous actor (or even the audiobook voice Ray Porter) after filming. James Ortiz voiced Rocky during filming to bounce dialogue off Ryan Gosling.

41

geek_of_nature Mar 29, 2026 +36

And i think i read it was Ryan Gosling who said they should just use James voice in the film itself because of how much he had embodied Ricky on set. He wasnt just a puppeteer giving Ryan some line reading to bounce off of, but a full on scene partner for him.

36

trexmoflex Mar 29, 2026 +30

Amaze. Amaze. Amaze job

30

jun2san Mar 29, 2026 +64

But he's cute enough for my daughter to want to buy a little plush toy of him. Dammit Amazon

64

SanityInAnarchy Mar 29, 2026 +29

IMO Rocky being cute is book-accurate. If she read the book, she'd want a plush toy of him anyway.

29

Crimkam Mar 29, 2026 +16

I thought he was so adorable ngl. Mostly from how he moved and his voice. The puppeteer/voice actor was fantastic.

16

tahlyn Mar 29, 2026 +34

> and skipped the science I loved the movie, don't get me wrong, but this is a HUGE difference for me between the two.

34

Karjalan Mar 29, 2026 +22

I get it, and I agree for myself personally, but I still think it was the right choice. It was already quite a long movie (over 2 and a half hours) and it would mostly just bloat the time for most viewers. I went with half a dozen friends and on the way home myself and another who read the book made the same lamentation as you, but the others who hadn't read it and/or were less science savvy, were pretty convinced that the stuff we were talking about wasn't needed and would have just added time to the movie without extra payoff. Also... there *was* a 4 hour cut they initially showed producers who were like "yeah... nah". I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot more science in those extra ~90 minutes. So maybe there will be a full/directors cut at some point?

22

Spectrum1523 Mar 29, 2026 +23

Agreed! The book being comptence p*** for science was a big draw for me too.

23

CheapGarage42 Mar 29, 2026 +34

What does Grogu-ified mean? Edit: Jesus I thought we were talking about the Rocky franchise because of the title lol.

34

The_Sideboob_Hour Mar 29, 2026 +70

I assume they made him more adorable and goofy to have more audience appeal. I have not read the book.

70

InflammableAccount Mar 29, 2026 +34

I've read the book but not the movie. He's a bit of a adorable goof in the book. Incredibly intelligent goof. I'm sure we've all met one of those kind of people.

34

Spectrum1523 Mar 29, 2026 +66

He is a bit goofy and cute in the book too, but there was a fair amount of physical comedy that went a bit over the top

66

natguy2016 Mar 29, 2026 +21

The only thing I "need" is a explainer on the timeline. Such distances and time dilation along with the flashbacks

21

Fadedcamo Mar 29, 2026 +24

Yea I feel like the movie was purposefully avoiding any talks on time dilation and relativity. Not for brevity but to not over science the movie and lose demographics.

24

thefowles1 Mar 29, 2026 +11

As someone who has seen the movie twice but has not read the books, may I ask what scenes in particular do you refer to?

11

SerDire Mar 29, 2026 +44

These are slight spoilers but in the book >!Grace never enters Rocky’s ship. He says he would like to but we never see it. We also never go back to earth so that scene where Stratt is older and looking back at Grace’s footage never happens in the book!<

44

Toxic724 Mar 29, 2026 +53

I appreciated that scene in the movie, as short as it was. I know earth got its closure in the book but it was nice to see them receive the information briefly.

53

Skyzhigh Mar 30, 2026 +9

Also since this is the first time Rocky's people have tried space exploration they didnt understand how traveling so close to the speed of light means less time for you on board the ship but a lot more time for the people on your planet.

9

schrodingers_gat Mar 29, 2026 +153

I agree, but the movie felt like a speed run through the book. I found myself wishing it was a little longer and more fleshed out.

153

BLToaster Mar 29, 2026 +214

It was already 2.5+ hours, you really start to risk losing folks if you go much longer at all. I was bummed too some bits didn't make it but they handled it all.....gracefully.

214

wallweasels Mar 29, 2026 +92

When we walked out we looked at the time and we were blown away. I did not "feel" the runtime at all.

92

KennyL0gin Mar 29, 2026 +32

That's one of the hardest hurdles for any director. People like Denis Villeneuve and James Cameron excel at this art, perfecting pacing and trimming just enough fat. But even the best directors will miss from time to time. It's an incredibly fine balancing act. Even Christopher Nolen and Stephen Spielberg have stumbled with this one a time or two.

32

stothers Mar 29, 2026 +57

Apparently, the first cut was over 4 hours and "other film-makers" told him he had to cut it down. I guess that's true, but I'd love to see the 4 hour cut.

57

Speak_To_Wuk_Lamat Mar 29, 2026 +46

I'd pay again to see a 4hr cut.

46

texacer Mar 29, 2026 +35

saw it on IMAX yesterday for the second time. highly recommend repeat viewing because I caught a lot more details and setups that I didn't see the first time. my only gripe is they didn't pay off >!Rocky being a life-form that doesn't require water!<

35

SynapticStatic Mar 29, 2026 +15

That actually makes me hopeful for like a Director's cut or an extended version in the future. Would be amazing to see more, especially if they go into the drive or how they extract fuel from the phage, or the interaction between the two main characters.

15

Hope_Burns_Bright Mar 29, 2026 +14

No, that's pretty standard Assembly Cut stage for film production. I don't know why it keeps making a headline. No director in their right mind entertains the possibility of releasing an assembly cut.

14

SmallshotLawyer Mar 29, 2026 +23

Yep. As a non-book-reader, I was ready for it to end *before* the Xenonite problem with Rocky’s ship was revealed.

23

BraskysAnSOB Mar 29, 2026 +16

Funny you say that, as a book reader I was thinking how are they going to cover the whole xenonite issue.

16

New_Poet_338 Mar 29, 2026 +6

False resolutions are often a problem with long movies. After 2+ hours they go through the climax and resolutions and the audience thinks "well that is over. It was a long ride but ended at exactly the right time" and then there is a 20 minute anti-climax twist that again has its own sub-climax and resolution and the audience is thinking "really? Got to go pee" the whole time.

6

SerDire Mar 29, 2026 +91

Yea I agree. They rushed through the science but managed to keep the core essence of the book which was the relationship between Grace and Rocky. I think that was the better trade off, the friendship and sentiment vs the hard science.

91

RightRudderr Mar 29, 2026 +63

Considering how *that* scene with rocky hit me like a f****** truck in the theater, it was definitely the right trade off to focus on their friendship. Haven't had a movie make me feel like that in forever.

63

schrodingers_gat Mar 29, 2026 +27

I understand why, but I think they went too fast through the flashbacks. >!The movie never let us get attached to Eva and the other crew candidates so the emotional beat was muted when they were killed in the explosion. It also didn't flesh out what Grace sacrificed for the mission up until then so the mutual betrayal between Grace and Eva when he chickened out and she forced him to go anyway and wiped his memory didn't quite land.!< That said, I might feel differently if I'd seen the movie before reading the book.

27

Rampant16 Mar 29, 2026 +36

>!Even in the book, the important part about the loss of the two scientist astronauts is that it makes Grace the next man up. The book does a lousy job of characterizing the other astronauts as well. The most memorable part is the bizarre sex talks which IMO is the worst part of the book and something which should've been edited out of the book and was deservedly not included in the film.!< All in all, it's a pretty lean film and I can understand why they wanted to stick to 2.5 hours. Would be cool to see a 3 or 3.5 hr cut though.

36

ricobirch Mar 29, 2026 +26

I want to see the 4 hour cut they showed to other directors.

26

allisonmaybe Mar 29, 2026 +8

I agree. I was very happy to see scenes come to life that I had read, but I was worried for the people I was with not understanding a lot of little details. I guess that's just the curse if having read the book.

8

unicyclegamer Mar 29, 2026 +16

This is unsurprising since the book was a couple levels removed from a movie script. Not saying it was bad, I enjoyed it, but you could tell the book knew it was going to be a movie.

16

therealflyingtoastr Mar 29, 2026 +18

>Apparently following a book pretty faithfully translates well on screen, what a secret. Please don't take this as the lesson from PHM. Books and film are different media. Good storytelling in each requires different things. Sometimes it works well to hew closely to the other, but sometimes it also works better to deviate. Slavishly sticking with things that work in a book but don't translate well to film will not make a good movie. The key is to *respect* the source material, not to translate it 1:1.

18

bloodmuffin98 Mar 29, 2026 +168

I agree. The G rating almost scared me off, thinking it would be boring, but it was great. Fun, funny, sad, hopeful, and great for all ages Edit: it's rated G in Canada

168

Slurm11 Mar 29, 2026 +125

G? It's PG13 in the U.S.

125

Radiant_Foot_7657 Mar 29, 2026 +26

I believe the US has a stricter system for our ratings. It’s probably the dead bodies and people dying that made it PG-13

26

bloodmuffin98 Mar 29, 2026 +50

Ohh. At my Canadian theater it's rated G

50

Placenta_Polenta Mar 29, 2026 +11

Now I’m trying to remember what made it PG-13

11

Zlurpo Mar 29, 2026 +23

General intensity maybe? I do feel like it could honestly have been PG. In the 90s it would have been for sure.

23

emannikcufecin Mar 29, 2026 +10

It should have been PG.

10

Cripnite Mar 29, 2026 +20

It’s G here in Canada. I came to actually ask if it would be good for an (almost) 8 year old.

20

bloodmuffin98 Mar 29, 2026 +40

Definitely. No swearing, no smut, no violence, and they'll probably love it

40

Salty-Fishman Mar 29, 2026 +57

Rocky's wife was n*** at the beach.

57

haberdasher42 Mar 29, 2026 +15

That's just their culture. They only wear clothes for special occasions.

15

Emperor_Orson_Welles Mar 29, 2026 +17

>no violence No interpersonal violence but some intense scenes of spacecraft turbulence that result in injuries and a little blood. Also a few shots of corpses - sad, not scary.

17

KingDave46 Mar 29, 2026 +22

That’s exactly what I liked about it Something about it just puts a smile on your face. Doom of the universe but just 2 pals hanging out and solving it Wonderful

22

KChampionK Mar 29, 2026 +427

i’m always rooting for the little guy, amazon

427

sur_surly Mar 29, 2026 +142

They've come a long way since.. Melania! ...?

142

RootHogOrDieTrying Mar 29, 2026 +10

The best thing about that movie is that someone commented that a long press would bring up the option to block it.

10

Fuckwittycake Mar 29, 2026 +606

Fist my bump 🤜

606

Miss-Tiq Mar 29, 2026 +265

Amaze amaze amaze!

265

FivebyFive Mar 29, 2026 +148

👎

148

yourlocaltouya Mar 29, 2026 +73

Words of encouragement!

73

gtrocks555 Mar 29, 2026 +63

You can’t just say words of encouragement

63

yourlocaltouya Mar 29, 2026 +68

Words of great encouragement!

68

Val_Killsmore Mar 29, 2026 +54

Nope. Still not right.

54

etherama1 Mar 29, 2026 +33

It's the same.

33

midnight_thunder Mar 29, 2026 +30

It’s not the same.

30

SanityInAnarchy Mar 29, 2026 +56

So, fun fact: Rocky's brain is crystalline, and it has nearly perfect memory. This is part of why they never made computers, because they're so good at math, both because they're good at computation, and because if they've ever worked a problem out, even if it was slow and difficult, they'll remember the answer forever. This also helped him learn to communicate with Grace. We see this happening from Grace's side, where every time Rocky says a new unfamiliar word, Grace adds that word to his computer, slowly building up a dictionary. Rocky is doing that in his head at the same time. So "Amaze amaze amaze" is just how Eridian grammar does exclamation, and 👎 is a limitation of his physiology (movie-only, because the puppet couldn't do a thumbs-up and they just decided to roll with it) But the first time Grace corrected him, he learned it was "Bump my fist." He had it down cold in his perfect crystalline memory. From that point on, he's doing it on purpose. "Fist my bump" is 100% trolling.

56

CrazdKraut Mar 29, 2026 +24

Reading the book I totally got that in a sense XD He has perfect memory and does complex calculations on the fly and as you said, learn human language without the aid of a computer. Rocky and his race are better off without the internet with that level of inter-species trolling

24

sur_surly Mar 29, 2026 +22

But I'll still do it.

22

ActuatorVast800 Mar 29, 2026 +323

I liked the idea that a completely alien species intelligent enough to achieve space travel will still attempt to communicate.

323

HoldMyBier Mar 29, 2026 +351

I enjoy a good old-fashioned, xenophobic shootout movie as much as the next person, but it was incredibly refreshing to watch a sci-fi movie that essentially boiled down to a couple of curious little guys just trying to make friends and learn about one another. Also save all life and the existence of the universe as we know it, but that’s not as important as the friends we made along the way.

351

yuriaoflondor Mar 29, 2026 +121

I read 3 Body Problem and Project Hail Mary back-to-back. Let’s just say that one of them is significantly more optimistic and hopeful than the other lol.

121

western_red_cedar Mar 29, 2026 +57

thankfully Dark Forest theory doesn't really actually hold up philosophically, because attacking other species would immediately reveal you as a threat to *anyone else* watching

57

freeradioforall Mar 29, 2026 +19

Why wouldn't they? We sit here all day trying to communicate to our pets

19

def11879 Mar 29, 2026 +37

I don’t think it’s mentioned in the movie but in the book rocky had already been there for like 100 years or something trying to figure it out alone so he definitely wanted help

37

WhiskeyTangoFoxy Mar 29, 2026 +25

I think he was there for 46 years alone by the time Grace showed up. Time was running out for his planet too. If he wasn’t desperate then maybe it would have been different. But I don’t believe either ship had weapons on them.

25

ertebolle Mar 30, 2026 +15

Also, in the book, the reason he had extra fuel was because his species didn’t understand relativity and sent them with too much, so there wasn’t the whole weird thing with him delaying saving his planet to rescue one guy

15

headphase Mar 30, 2026 +8

The book talks a lot more about Eridians' progression/technological evolution but they are arguably less advanced than humans. The Blip A was their first attempt at leaving orbit (Xenonite allowed them to basically 3d print a space elevator) and they lacked some pretty important knowledge/scientific discoveries

8

R_V_Z Mar 29, 2026 +7

"Give weapon."

7

IndustryHuman3918 Mar 29, 2026 +375

So glad this is actually making money tbh. we desperately need studios to realize that smart, standalone sci-fi can still be incredibly profitable at the box office.

375

Anagrama00 Mar 29, 2026 +68

So dumb it's playing in PACKED screenings at my local IMAX currently and on Wednesday and the Mario Bros movie is taking over the IMAX.

68

DemonicPanda11 Mar 29, 2026 +14

Right?? There’s no way they don’t bring it back at some point.

14

michael41973 Mar 29, 2026 +12

That’s just a IMAX issue. These movies schedule a set time for it to be shown in IMAX and then the IMAX theatre has to show the next one. So many films are shot in IMAX anymore that some aren’t even shown that way sometimes.

12

[deleted] Mar 29, 2026 +710

[removed]

710

MoroseOverdose Mar 29, 2026 +263

All my homies hate Mark

263

bobbysaysso Mar 29, 2026 +119

I like to think it was Mark Whatney.

119

Oscaruit Mar 29, 2026 +33

I thought maybe it was an Easter egg for that. But then again, Mark Whatney was a badass in his own right. >!He didn't save all of humanity though.!<

33

3p1cw1n Mar 29, 2026 +26

Mark was a guy behind the camera that Ryan Gosling has worked with before, he adlibbed the name as a joke. At least, according to an interview I saw

26

kroxti Mar 29, 2026 +15

He saved >!all of humanity on mars!< though

15

ex1stence Mar 29, 2026 +22

And thus the PHMCU was born.

22

anormalgeek Mar 29, 2026 +53

Goslings line naming Mark, and Rocky's response were both improvised too. I love that the voice actor (James Ortiz) was originally just the puppeteer too. He'd never done any professional voice acting before this. At first he was just reciting the lines for Ryan's benefit, assuming they'd be dubbed over later. But the directors liked him enough to just keep him doing it.

53

wahobely Mar 29, 2026 +62

Ironically the best line in the movie for me wasn't even in the book. "I hate Mark"

62

plsno730 Mar 29, 2026 +15

F*** Mark

15

Firecracker048 Mar 29, 2026 +38

Rocky hates mark

38

HydrogenSonata2025 Mar 29, 2026 +533

I'm happy for the success because now there's going to be a gold rush on other hard sci-fi novels. Would love to see a Culture movie, maybe a Bobiverse or Expeditionary Force series.

533

RunningJokes Mar 29, 2026 +58

I wish that meant Villeneuve's Rendezvous with Rama would be his next project.

58

SerDire Mar 29, 2026 +26

I think everything off screen really came together well and was plainly visible in the movie. This has been a passion project of Gosling for years so he’s been there every step of the way. Drew Goddard adapted the Martian so he gets Andy Weirs writing. Lord and Miller with their history of animation know how to make characters like Rocky really stand out.

26

Horror-Layer-8178 Mar 29, 2026 +22

My bet, Old Man's War

22

Glup_Maclunkey Mar 29, 2026 +8

Old Man's War would certainly be easier to adapt than something like Bobiverse.

8

KingBearSuit Mar 29, 2026 +58

If audiences can love Rocky, they can love Children of Time

58

daroach1414 Mar 29, 2026 +34

I can’t fathom that being a movie. Would love it but I think it might be too out there for people. Not to mention the big times jumps being difficult.

34

_Svankensen_ Mar 29, 2026 +14

Yeah, a miniseries would work fine. Lots of expensive effects tho. All of Portia's adventures need to be CGI.

14

Tandybaum Mar 29, 2026 +102

Bobiverse is to hard. That is upper case SCI-Fi

102

decadent-dragon Mar 29, 2026 +42

Not just that but the books are mostly inner monologue. It will be difficult

42

not-a-painting Mar 29, 2026 +22

The amount of conversations between each bob would make it very easy to have inner monologues outwardly spoken IMO I think the best place for it would be a mini series or limited TV show.

22

flyfrog Mar 29, 2026 +7

Isnt that what GUPPI is for?

7

SirDiego Mar 29, 2026 +24

The Culture would be so expensive to make lol. But I'm hopeful someone takes a chance on it. Such a great and imaginative series I suppose they could take one of the less expansive stories but I mean if you're going to make a Culture adaptation it would be a shame not to do one of the space operas

24

HydrogenSonata2025 Mar 29, 2026 +10

Eh, no worse than Foundation. The first book would need some heavy action/effects but the rest of the stories are mostly dialog and character driven. It'd be an actor and costume designer's wet dream for sure.

10

alex-2099 Mar 29, 2026 +263

Amazon doing thousands of early screenings was such a smart move. By the time opening weekend came around, word of mouth was working its magic and the message was clear: “this is a great movie. Take your family. You will come out feeling really good and maybe a little optimistic. See it in IMAX if you can.”

263

anormalgeek Mar 29, 2026 +113

Early screenings only work IF the film is already really good though.

113

alex-2099 Mar 29, 2026 +47

Yes, but Amazon knew the film was good and that the challenge would solely be getting people to come see it in theaters and not wait for streaming. Great movies come out all the time, but never get their box office success because people aren’t talking about them. Advertising will only go so far, and eventually, you need to get people to tell their friends “this is worth seeing right now, in a theater”.

47

RangedTopConnoisseur Mar 29, 2026 +216

Andy weir seems to have perfected the art of writing a Hollywood hit. It really hit a LOT of the same beats as the Martian but including a lovable buddy with a tragic backstory and raising the stakes for failure for both of them really turned up the emotional impact of those beats - both movies included a scene around developing a shoddy communication system for example, but it was much more cathartic to see Grace break through to Rocky than Mark finally getting to NASA. Writers must also love Weir for setting up the perfect natural diegetic outlet for internal monologue with the video logs.

216

jinsaku Mar 29, 2026 +135

Artemis (Andy's 2nd novel) begs to differ. The worldbuilding was incredible but the protagonist was insufferable and oh god the welding so much f****** welding the entire goddamn book is a technical manual on welding.

135

Zlurpo Mar 29, 2026 +36

Could absolutely work as a fun movie if you gave it the same movie treatment, except instead of taking out science they take out welding.

36

zeusmeister Mar 29, 2026 +61

Didn’t he write Artemis before Project Hail Mary? So Watney was too much of a male Mary Sue for some people, so he went the opposite way with Artemis and made the protagonist unlikeable. Then I think he found a nice balance with Grace. A flawed, but ultimately good hearted protagonist that anyone could relate to. So hopefully he goes with this formula next time as well.

61

Dragongeek Mar 29, 2026 +35

Arguably *Artemis* was the book where Weir challenged himself the most, and, as can be seen in the comparative lack of success, struggled. He tried to write a completely different protagonist from anything that he has personal experience with and had way more social stuff and people in general because they are all required for the moon base to be alive. The other two works feature rather "everyman"-styled white dude protagonists (not that that's bad) and they also have an extremely limited to the point of being near solitary cast. I personally liked *Artemis*, and I'm glad that Weir wrote it because it shows he's interested in challenging himself as an author, but it's the weakest of the three main books he's released.

35

StarPhished Mar 29, 2026 +14

And I think it could still easily be adapted for the better since it's biggest weakness (the characters) can easily be fleshed out and refined by writers/actors when translated to the screen. As a matter of fact, I read that Lord/Miller are potentially planning on making the movie and that a script has already been written. The whole 1/6 gravity through the whole thing seems to be the hardest thing to work out.

14

trackofalljades Mar 29, 2026 +19

Drew Goddard is pretty big part of the formula, too…

19

Firecracker048 Mar 29, 2026 +16

The problem isnt writing a Hollywood hit, it's getting a director/producer to stay faithful to the source. That's Hollywoods issue.

16

funktopus Mar 29, 2026 +25

I think The Martian and Mary work because both leads are charismatic and Weir is good at setting up comedy beats. If you removed the jokes neither movie works the same. You could easily make them more horror suspense. If the leads were Dakota Johnson or Vin Diesel the moves don't work. I wonder how Weir would do with an ensemble book honestly. He's got the jokes and writes a good character but I wonder how he would do with a group.

25

Dr_Valen Mar 29, 2026 +257

You know the movie is good when it makes you feel emotions about a sentient rock

257

quick20minadventure Mar 29, 2026 +162

I cried when rocky offered to be 6 year slower.

162

Resvrgam2 Mar 29, 2026 +97

That was a nice deviation from the book, where there wasn't nearly as much of a sacrifice by Rocky. In the book, Rocky's ship just has a ton of extra fuel because his world didn't understand special relativity.

97

wilcroft Mar 29, 2026 +30

That was in the movie too - it wasn’t explicitly stated, but there is a line about how his people weren’t familiar with radiation or relativity.

30

skyysdalmt Mar 29, 2026 +40

Yea, considering the lifespan of Rocky's species, ~700years, and that Rocky is only around 290yrs old, but 6 years to him wouldn't be the same at 6 years to Grace.

40

--annyeong-- Mar 29, 2026 +48

I cried like 3 times and I read the book so I knew what would happen lol

48

AlternativeResort477 Mar 29, 2026 +21

I’m crying reading a comment about it

21

Why-so-delirious Mar 29, 2026 +41

After watching it I legitimately thought to myself 'wow I just really enjoyed watching a movie about Ryan Gosling and his pet rock'

41

IHappenToBeJosh Mar 29, 2026 +47

In the end it was more so a rock and his pet Ryan Gosling

47

Dr_Valen Mar 29, 2026 +9

Man I was literally thinking that Ryan gosling got the ultimate pet rock the whole movie lol

9

Soaked4youVaporeon Mar 29, 2026 +10

Half the theater was crying. Some people were loud at crying. Didn’t expect that from a sci-fi film

10

Dr_Valen Mar 29, 2026 +6

Right it’s been awhile since a sci-fi or any movie in general made me feel emotions man. Now a days it’s all bland superhero movies it’s nice to get a change of pace

6

Zaziel Mar 29, 2026 +5

Like EEAAO?

5

glassovertheflame Mar 29, 2026 +31

Saw this last night. Just loved it!!

31

Zimstersot Mar 29, 2026 +62

👎👎👎

62

Blue-Cheese Mar 29, 2026 +253

Amaze! Amaze!

253

chowchan Mar 29, 2026 +62

SHIELDS UP!!

62

I_Win_Lews_Therin Mar 29, 2026 +36

There are no shields on the Hail Mary.

36

Deuce2SMM2 Mar 29, 2026 +58

Words of encouragement!

58

plsno730 Mar 29, 2026 +48

Great words of encouragement!

48

121jigawatts Mar 29, 2026 +26

Great film, greenlight more sci-fi books ty

26

Burnstryk Mar 29, 2026 +24

'not half bad' FULL GOOD

24

LexaMaridia Mar 29, 2026 +21

Great movie! I genuinely felt the friendship.

21

XecoX Mar 29, 2026 +41

Great movie, I watched it twice! Amaze, amaze!

41

mitchkramer Mar 29, 2026 +18

Just saw it again and I liked it more than the first time.

18

Motion-to-Photons Mar 29, 2026 +16

What a superb film. It was heartfelt in a way that so many modern AAA films aren’t.

16

flintlock0 Mar 29, 2026 +39

Ironic considering the “Rocky” movie references in PHM.

39

shrewdy Mar 29, 2026 +74

It's a success question? It's a success statement.

74

PoorlyAttired Mar 29, 2026 +12

Sandra Hüller was great = new crush.

12

haruku63 Mar 29, 2026 +24

Hadn’t read the book before and the movie often felt rushed. Now reading the book I get some scenes. Also, I‘m old and two times I was the only one laughing in the cinema. When he hummed the five tunes from “Close Encounters” and when he named Rocky’s mate “Adrian”. 1977, 1976 movies…

24

SasquatchInCrocs Mar 29, 2026 +11

I decided to read the book 1st before watching the movie and I literally finished the last chapter a few minutes ago. I can't wait to see it!

11

Z3130 Mar 29, 2026 +20

At this rate someone is going to take a chance on an Artemis movie.

20

YOLO_Tamasi Mar 29, 2026 +16

Lord and Miller optioned that book when it came out and have been working on it as a tv show. In an interview they said the main reason Hail Mary came to fruition first is because they've been struggling with a practical way to portray the low gravity of the moon.

16

Ciserus Mar 29, 2026 +14

This would totally work, despite what the haters say. They would just need to rewrite the cringy parts. Project Hail Mary is great because they kept the story and discarded 99% of Weir's dialog.

14

Icy_Inflation9252 Mar 29, 2026 +39

amaze! amaze! amaze! seriously though, ryan gosling is literally just carrying the entire amazon mgm theatrical slate on his back rn lmao.

39

joe-h2o Mar 29, 2026 +38

Edit: also Ryan is just a capital C Charisma movie star. He is effortlessly charismatic both in-character and as himself. He totally sold Grace to me in a way that felt fully gelled with the way I imagined him from the book. I think it also helped enormously that the film looks like it has scale and scope and is not just completely CG. It loaded with VFX, but the Rocky puppet is real and *feels* real. The sets were also real physical spaces that they manipulated, and shooting a physical puppet in there would have been insanely hard compared to just adding him in post, but it pays off in spades in the final movie.

38

thatguy425 Mar 29, 2026 +10

Saw it yesterday and I didn’t even realize until now I was never distracted by Rocky looking like CGI. It added such a level of authenticity to it.

10

[deleted] Mar 29, 2026 +31

[removed]

31

dating_derp Mar 29, 2026 +25

Remember that Paramount turned down Andy Weir when he wanted to do Star Trek with them. Because Paramount is fine with their latest Trek show getting canceled after season 1's reception.

25

Captain-Wilco Mar 29, 2026 +59

The film is 👎👎👎👎

59

sur_surly Mar 29, 2026 +24

To save you from the onslaught of down votes: Folks, he's making a reference to the movie. Not saying it's actually bad.

24

dropbluelettuce Mar 29, 2026 +23

🤛👎

23

TheRealTahulrik Mar 29, 2026 +86

👎👎

86

Dr_Mantis_Teabaggin Mar 29, 2026 +48

Fist my bump!

48

Complete_Physics_818 Mar 29, 2026 +35

Creed iii getting knocked out at the box office by a depressed science teacher and his rock-spider best friend was definitely not on my bingo card ngl. amazon finally actually using the mgm acquisition for a massive W.

35

Lokta Mar 29, 2026 +32

Watched it in IMAX 70mm yesterday. Cost $150 for my 4-person family and had to drive like 70 miles to do so. Worth it. tbf seeing the movie dovetailed perfectly with taking my kid back to college after spring break. But it was still worth it.

32

‘Project Hail Mary’ Becomes Amazon MGM Studios’ Highest-Grossing Film Worldwide With $300 Million Overtaking ‘Creed III’

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