Project Hail Maryis one of the biggest movies of 2026 so far, a terrific adaptation Andy Weir's 2021 sci-fi novel that's equal parts brains and heart. The movie tells the story of Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a schoolteacher who is also humanity's last hope to figure out why the sun is dimming. He is sent light years away to the star of Tau Ceti, one of the few stars in this part of the galaxy not being affected by an alien microorganism called astrophage. There, he meets a five-armed, no-faced extraterrestrial he names Rocky, and the two of them try to solve the problem together.