NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Franchise movies have been the dominant currency in Hollywood for years, but, lately, the upside of originality has been hard to miss.
A week after 鈥淥ne Battle After Another,鈥� 鈥淪inners鈥� and 鈥淜Pop Demon Hunters鈥� all , Phil Lord and Chris Miller鈥檚 notched the In the first three months of 2026, the two biggest hits in theaters are it and the Pixar original
All of these successes came at considerable expense. 鈥淧roject Hail Mary,鈥� based on the Andy Weir bestseller, cost close to $200 million to make. But its $80.5 million debut vindicated Amazon MGM鈥檚 big bet, and gave the studio its largest box-office hit yet.
鈥淭hey made a tremendous investment and it鈥檚 going to pay off,鈥� Lord said in an interview alongside Miller last week. 鈥淗ow exciting to reward the people that took a shot.鈥�
鈥淧roject Hail Mary,鈥� despite its title, isn鈥檛 anyone鈥檚 idea of a long shot. It stars one of the most widely liked actors in Ryan Gosling. Its source material, Weir鈥檚 novel, is beloved. And it trades on much of the same science-first sci-fi appeal of 2015鈥檚 best picture-nominated 鈥淭he Martian,鈥� from an earlier book by Weir. Lord and Miller, the filmmakers of and 鈥淭he Lego Movie,鈥� have a long track record of success with both audiences and critics.
But the recent run for originality 鈥� at the Oscars and the multiplex 鈥� suggests audiences may be more eager for something different from the same old. At the least, the potentially cascading rewards of an original hit are freshly apparent at a time when a lot of big bets 鈥� like the $130 million-plus that Paul Thomas Anderson鈥檚 best picture winner 鈥淥ne Battle After Another鈥� cost Warner Bros. to make 鈥� have paid off so massively.
鈥淧eople go to the movies to see a new experience,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 go to see a thing they鈥檝e already seen. Originality has value, especially as AI gets into the picture. The value that we can bring as filmmakers is to bring something that can鈥檛 be AI because it hasn鈥檛 been thought of before.
鈥淪o it鈥檚 good business.鈥�
Franchise domination
Franchises have hardly been displaced. They will, no doubt, largely control the box office for the rest of year, beginning with Universal’s 鈥淭he Super Mario Galaxy Movie鈥� next month, followed by anticipated releases like 鈥淭oy Story 5,鈥� 鈥淎vengers: Doomsday鈥� and 鈥淒une: Part Three.鈥� Last week, the 11th 鈥淪pider-Man鈥� movie this century, Sony Pictures’ 鈥淪pider-Man: Brand New Day,鈥� set a new trailer record with 718.6 million views in its first 24 hours.
So, yes, franchises still very much rule the day. But waves upon waves of sequels, reboots and remakes have made the few big-budget originals that manage to get made all the more singular.
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 continue to do originals, we鈥檙e going to run out of stuff,鈥� Pete Docter, Pixar chief creative officer, earlier told The Los Angeles Times.
Since its founding, Pixar has clung to a belief that original movies are part of its mission, though that quest has grown more arduous in recent years. During the pandemic, 鈥淪oul,鈥� 鈥淟uca鈥� and 鈥淭urning Red鈥� were diverted to Disney+. 鈥淓lemental鈥� seemed like a disappointment at first but it just needed time to catch hold, eventually collecting $496 million.
鈥淗oppers,鈥� directed by Daniel Chong, is hoping to follow that trajectory. So far, in three weeks of release, it鈥檚 grossed $242.6 million worldwide for The Walt Disney Co. 鈥� good business, to be sure, but a far cry from the pace of the 2024 blockbuster sequel 鈥淚nside Out 2.鈥� It grossed $1.7 billion.
Such economics are tough for original movies to compete with, plus non-franchise films take more effort, and money, to market. For a $200 million movie, marketing costs can come to nearly rival production budgets.
Though some of , complete with a blimp and a trip to the Sphere, , his promotional efforts were surely necessary to help lift A24鈥檚 most expensive movie ever 鈥� with a budget of $70 million 鈥� to $179.3 million in ticket sales.
An ambitious marketing campaign also accompanied 鈥淧roject Hail Mary.鈥� Gosling was everywhere from hosting 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� to with his alien co-star, Rocky. But the movie always rested on the appeal of the comic sensibilities of its filmmakers, Weir鈥檚 book and Gosling.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all united by the fact that we鈥檝e spent the last two decades having people ask us: What genre is this?鈥� says Drew Goddard, who scripted both 鈥淭he Martian鈥� and 鈥淧roject Hail Mary.鈥� 鈥淲e鈥檙e constantly hard to classify because we love existing in those strange places. We like drama, we like comedy. We like heartbreak, we like terror. We like silliness.鈥�
Streaming economics change the calculus
In matching broad-appeal material with the right filmmakers and stars, 鈥淧roject Hail Mary鈥� relied on not just old-school studio moviemaking but Both Christopher Nolan’s 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� and Greta Gerwig’s 鈥淏arbie鈥� showed what can happen when the right filmmakers are given free rein on a big canvas. There is a definite downside, though. Warner Bros.’ by Maggie Gyllenhaal seemed like a compelling, filmmaker-driven concept but its losses might approach $100 million.
Aside from having Gosling in common, 鈥淧roject Hail Mary鈥� also shared the producer of 鈥淏arbie鈥� in Amy Pascal. Before the studio鈥檚 acquisition by Amazon, it was greenlit by then-MGM chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. They later moved on to Warner Bros., where they made both 鈥淥ne Battle After Another鈥� and Ryan Coogler’s much-celebrated 鈥淪inners鈥� ($370 million in ticket sales against a budget of $90 million).
As much as Amazon鈥檚 $8.5 billion purchase of MGM was motivated by capturing some of the richest IP in movies, James Bond, it鈥檚 also true that studios can establish themselves with homegrown hits. The opening for 鈥淧roject Hail Mary鈥� was Amazon MGM鈥檚 biggest ever.
In fact, three of the biggest original hits of the past year have come from streaming companies: Apple with Netflix with and Amazon with 鈥淧roject Hail Mary.鈥� For these studios, box-office performance is only part of the win; Netflix didn’t even publicly record the chart-topping theatrical weekend of 鈥淜Pop Demon Hunters.鈥�
These companies are sometimes willing to take greater risks because breaking even in theatrical isn鈥檛 the end-all-be-all goal. Driving attention to their streaming platforms is just as vital. 鈥淜Pop鈥� was developed and produced by Sony Pictures, but, sensing the potentially perilous road to opening it theatrically, the company sold it to Netflix. There, it became the streamer’s most-watched movie ever.
鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be lost on anyone that three of the biggest original hits over the past year have come from the biggest streamers: Netflix, Amazon and Apple,鈥� says Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Comscore. 鈥淲hat the streamers are finding is that they can parlay their small-screen successes into the big screen, and vice versa.鈥�
As much as franchises will soon take back the multiplex, a number of high-profile movies will try to continue the winning streak for original films, among them Steven Spielberg’s 鈥淒isclosure Day,鈥� Alejandro G. I帽谩rritu’s 鈥淒igger,鈥� J.J. Abrams’ 鈥淭he Great Beyond鈥� and, if you count one of world’s oldest stories, 鈥淭he Odyssey,鈥� by Nolan.
But even in the celebration for 鈥淧roject Hail Mary,鈥� the pull franchises exert on the movie business was implicit. Amazon MGM, in reporting the movie’s performance, included a nod to its marquee IP, 007, in the figures: $80,506,007 in 4,007 theaters.
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