Lookout Project Hail Mary, Christopher Nolan’s Space Sci-Fi Masterpiece Is Coming For Your Streaming Crown

A twelve-year-old Christopher Nolan film is currently climbing the charts on Amazon and may knock its own epic sci-fi hit from the top slot. The Netflix effect is a phenomenon where an older movie or show gets a second life because millions of viewers are exposed to it through their streaming feed. As far back as 2002, Wired documented that movies like Memento and Office Space were finding substantially larger audiences through Netflix than their theatrical runs. More recently, Suits became the poster child for the effect, spending months atop the charts years after its original run on USA. The Netflix effect is no longer limited to that service. Amazon Prime also has the basic tools for the mechanism: a robust recommendation engine built on viewers’ watch habits. On that streamer, you could say older titles get “Primed.” One particular title on the service is hitting a perfect storm of thematic overlap with a charting movie, renewed interest in the filmmaker, and it’s just a damn good film to boot.

According to Moviefone, the Ryan Gosling-starrer Project Hail Mary is currently sitting at the top of the Amazon Prime Video chart. Twelve years after its release, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is charting at number four after climbing back into the top three over the weekend. Nolan’s film is catching a tailwind from viewers of Project Hail Mary who want to keep scratching that “mankind’s last hope” sci-fi itch. Both films follow last-ditch efforts to save mankind by traversing the stars. One has a cool rocky friend and the other a robot buddy. The films frankly pair well.

Interstellar is also riding a wave of interest in Christopher Nolan’s filmography around this summer’s release of The Odyssey. The movie that knocked Nolan out of the top 3 is getting a similar boost, as Zach Cregger’s Weapons is seeing renewed interest thanks to the release of his hit film Resident Evil. The other way to get a classic movie noticed is if one of the stars dies. Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 ranks ironically at the fifth spot.

Amazon Prime is Sci-Curious

Roughly 40% of Amazon Prime Video’s movies right now are sci-fi or horror. The streamer has spent over a decade curating for a growing genre-consuming audience. Jeff Bezos personally helped rescue The Expanse after Syfy canceled the series, though it ended after only another three years. Project Hail Mary is the biggest hit Amazon’s MGM Studios has had. That bodes well for the reservoir of sci-fi franchises MGM controls. The aforementioned Expanse may be getting a resuscitation. Much like Doctor Who, a search is on for the next writer of the Stargate franchise. Project Hail Mary may have ignited a new cinematic space race. Lord and Miller are attached to adapt Weir’s follow-up book Artemis, but it has yet to find a studio willing to foot the bill for an expensive lunar-set movie. If Project Hail Mary keeps staying at number one, Amazon has plenty of reasons to consider picking up Artemis‘ rights.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar was hailed as the heir to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey when it was released in 2014. The movie is famously accurate in the depiction of its science around black holes. So much so that it is often assigned as required viewing in introductory physics and astrophysics courses. As school is finally back in session, there is a small chance this movie is charting because there’s a quiz on time dilation this week.