Boston film fans are getting a rare cinematic event next month. Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling and based on Andy Weir’s (The Martian) best-selling novel, will screen early in IMAX 70mm—a large-format experience few films commit to in today’s digital age.
Directed by Academy Award winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with a screenplay by Drew Goddard, the film follows Ryland Grace, a scientist-turned-astronaut on a desperate mission to save Earth from a cosmic catastrophe. But for moviegoers, the bigger story might be the format itself.
IMAX 70mm projection uses film stock nearly 10 times the size of standard 35mm, producing striking detail, brightness, and clarity that digital projection can’t match. It’s the same larger-than-life format used for blockbusters like Oppenheimer—and it’s rarely available locally.
Boston audiences can experience Project Hail Mary in true IMAX 70mm at select local theaters and at Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre from March 13–15, ahead of the film’s wide release on March 20.
For those who miss the texture, scale, and physical beauty of film, this release argues that some stories still deserve to be told on celluloid.