New To The Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report?
Every Monday on The Monday Morning Box Office Hangover Report, we take a peak at the box office numbers and break down the entire weekend box office: who won, who flopped, who needs a stiff drink and what the numbers actually say once the Sunday studio spin wears off.
Opening Pour
This weekend belonged to Project Hail Mary again. Not in a neck and neck, lunged forward and won it with a three pointer at the buzzer kind of way. It won in a “PJM still owns the room” kind of way. Lord, Miller, Weir and Ryan Gosling’s sci-fi film pulled $54.5 million in weekend two, down just 32% from its opening, which is a super strong hold-over for a big event movie. It stayed planted at No. 1 while the rest of the chart mostly fought over scraps, with Hoppers in second and new horror entry They Will Kill You arriving to a much softer-than-hoped $5 million debut.
Top 5 Domestic Films
(Weekend estimates, March 27 to 29, 2026)
- Project Hail Mary — $54.54M
- Hoppers — $12.2M
- They Will Kill You — $5.0M
- Dhurandhar: The Revenge — $4.75M
- Reminders of Him — $4.7M
Recap
The overall weekend was led almost entirely by one movie, Project Hail Mary, which has now reached about $164.3 million domestic and roughly $300.8 million worldwide, making it the biggest hit of 2026 so far. More telling than the box office dollar total is the audience holdover: a 32% second-weekend drop says audiences are not just showing up, they’re dragging other people with them. Internationally, this number was a phenomenal 5% drop… That is what real theatrical momentum looks like.
Highlights and Insights
1) Project Hail Mary has some legs, not just first stage launch fuel
A 32% drop on a movie that opened north of $80 million is the kind of number studios dream about and then pretend they expected. AP reports it also kept control of premium format screens like IMAX, which matters because those screens helped juice the opening and are now helping sustain the run. This thing is not just front-loaded. It is playing like a crowd-pleaser.
2) Hoppers is still doing its job
Pixar’s Hoppers took second with $12.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $138.6 million and its global tally to $297.6 million. It is no longer the headline, but it is still hanging around the bar making steady money, which is exactly what you want from family counterprogramming once a giant new No. 1 lands.
3) Horror may be overplaying its hand
They Will Kill You opened in third with $5 million, which is not a disaster in an absolute sense, but it is a shrug when the genre usually promises a stronger opening punch. AP noted that this marks the 14th consecutive weekend with a horror release in the marketplace, and that kind of saturation may finally be catching up with the genre. Translation: if everything is a horror event, eventually nothing is.
4) Dhurandhar: The Revenge keeps proving there is room for more than one kind of hit
The Indian action title landed in fourth with $4.745 million, pushing its domestic total to $22.77 million. That is not just decent holdover business. It is further proof that specialized audiences will absolutely show up when they are given something that feels like it is for them and not just dumped into the market as filler.
5) Reminders of Him is still quietly cashing paychecks
The romance adaptation rounded out the Top 5 with $4.7 million, lifting its domestic total to $41.07 million. It is not dominating the conversation anymore, but it is still hanging in there, which is more than can be said for a lot of films that open with a flash and vanish by weekend three.
Who Had the Rough Morning After?
This week, that honor goes to horror in general. Not because horror is dead. It never dies. That bastard film genre always crawls back and surprises you. But They Will Kill You opening to just $5 million in a market that has been flooded with horror titles suggests audiences may be getting picky, or just tired. When you feed the box office the same flavor every weekend, eventually it stops tasting special.
What’s Next
The short version: Project Hail Mary still looks like the movie to beat. Entertainment Weekly reported it has now become the year-to-date domestic leader, and with no immediate challenger on deck from this weekend’s new openers, it has room to keep printing money for at least another frame. The real test now is whether it can turn a huge opening and a killer second weekend hold into a full-blown long-run phenomenon. Right now, it is sure acting like it can.
Final Pour
This weekend was less about chaos and more about confirmation. Project Hail Mary is not just a hot opener. It is a real hit. Hoppers kept the family lane alive, Reminders of Him stayed upright, and horror may have finally run into the consequences of showing up too often with its hand out. The box office did not explode this weekend. It clarified. And what it clarified is that audiences will still turn out in force when a movie feels like an actual event. 🍸🍿
