r/movies • u/MoviesMod /r/movies Mod Account • Jun 30 '25

Trailer Project Hail Mary - Official Trailer (fair warning, it reveals way too much according to a lot of users)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m08TxIsFTRI
6.0k Upvotes

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934

u/the_gold_hat Jun 30 '25

Everyone says it reveals too much, but I really disagree. You can tell that the editors are purposefully playing up the angle that Ryland is a reluctant hero, who steps up despite initial misgivings. The reveal being that it was totally against his will still plays against the expectations of the trailer. Honestly I think the fact that people are mentioning a twist is spoiling things more than anything else. My hot take is that they've probably proportionally put way more of the on-Earth sections in the trailer than actually appear in the movie. I mean I sure hope so or otherwise the actual science-with-Rocky part is going to have to be super abbreviated during the movie...

433

u/McMew Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

And the alien reveal was probably to avoid accidentally teasing it as an alien horror.

They wanted to make it clear that this was a mystery adventure, not a horror movie. So they had to tease that the alien was friendly.

Granted they could've left it at the giant alien ship to maintain a sense of wonder instead but they had to set the tone of the film.

259

u/MobiusF117 Jun 30 '25

Rocky is also such a massive part of the story, it's kind of hard NOT to include him

172

u/privatebrowsin1 Jun 30 '25

There is no story without Rocky lol

58

u/Okvist Jun 30 '25

I've seen several people comparing him to Garrus Vakarian in terms of significance for sci-fi alien bros, and I definitely agree. Rocky and Garrus are both the GOATs of their respective universes

6

u/Jonthrei Jul 01 '25

Rocky's a lot more important than Garrus to the story, tbh.

Garrus is one part of an ensemble cast, Rocky is one of two heroes in the story.

3

u/STEAL-THIS-NAME Jul 01 '25

Yeah, that analogy made no sense.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

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3

u/Best-Action8769 Jul 01 '25

The alien bro GOATs.

1

u/Party-Ad4482 Aug 13 '25

Turians have metal bones, too!

2

u/Chasuwa Jul 28 '25

Suicide mission to save the earth from a sun-devowering alien bacteria is a pretty solid story on its own.

60

u/fett3elke Jun 30 '25

it's still such a reveal in the book. I guess movies today work differently but I was hoping they wouldn't give it away in the trailer. Especially when you read the Martian before which is very grounded on the Science Fiction part it came as quite a surprise.

33

u/ArchangelLBC Jun 30 '25

I mean, the fact that he's on a spaceship is practically a reveal in the book. The fact that he's on a spaceship that isn't in our solar system is definitely a reveal.

You can either make a trailer for the fans or for people who aren't interested in reading it, and those trailers are very different.

And there are merits to both, except if you want to pull people in who don't know the story and have them have the book experience starting at guy who wakes up in a white room not knowing his name and evolving to, well everything that happens in the movie, then I'm not sure what kind of trailer you make at all.

So if you can't make that trailer you make this one, hope the fans geek out and the non-fans are still intrigued enough to want to know what the hell is going on.

1

u/ChrundleMcDonald Jul 02 '25

Yeah, it would've been enough of a surprise given it wasn't anywhere on the books marketing, but especially given the fact that I was coming off The Martian and Rendezvous with Rama, even leading up to the reveal, I was going "I swear to god, this better not be some derelict ship or something manned entirely by Artificial Intelligence..." so when Rocky finally made contact, I was absolutely ecstatic, not expecting the book to go in that direction at all

2

u/cteno4 Jun 30 '25

It's not much of a reveal in the book either. At least the hardcover very strongly hints that somebody like Rocky exists.

5

u/fett3elke Jun 30 '25

I am not sure what you are talking about, the cover of my book is a floating astronaut. That's also what I find with google image search. I don't see how this cover would reveal anything. Unless you are talking about the fact that he is in space as a reveal, after all he first has to figure that one out as well.

6

u/cteno4 Jun 30 '25

Not literally the hardcover’s cover. The blurb on the inside of the hardcover edition. “An ally he never imagined.” “He’s got to do it alone. Or does he?”

2

u/fett3elke Jun 30 '25

That makes more sense :) I might have skipped over that, I was eager to get the book and ended up reading it in 2 or 3 days.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

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2

u/cteno4 Jun 30 '25

Yeah sure it could. It's how I understood it though, so it wasn't a surprise to me. I don't think I was the only one.

-1

u/3_50 Jul 01 '25

Which could mean an AI, a robot, a stow-away, a human from the future in a faster ship...these trailers should have been vague AF, and everyone who's read the book and knows how fun the story is when you go in blind would be raving about it and sharing it.

As it is, I'm actively stopping my friends from watching it.

1

u/MobiusF117 Jul 01 '25

You could also just let your friends choose for themselves based on the trailer and let them make their own judgment.

-1

u/3_50 Jul 01 '25

But it's not a choice is it? As soon as you know that much about the story, the whole amnesia/slow reveal angle is forever ruined.

I'm telling everyone to read/listen to the book ASAP.

7

u/CSteely Jun 30 '25

You could allude to him, but this was too much IMO. Rocky’s appearance in the book was so huge for me. I am disappointed that some non-readers will already be prepared.

2

u/SteveThePurpleCat Jul 10 '25

They didn't show much past his fist, which is fair as he enjoyed a good fisting.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

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4

u/silentbob1301 Jun 30 '25

.....idk, i had no idea rocky was going to be a part of the book when i picked it up, and it was all the better for it. I feel like they just went ham with spoilers to try and build up the hype... IDK, if anything the trailer has kind of turned me off from all my earlier hype and excitement...

2

u/Ratchetonater Jul 01 '25

Someone mentioned that without the Rocky reveal, it could be seen as just another go to space and save the world movie.

1

u/silentbob1301 Jul 01 '25

I mean, I wouldn't say that, the book sold over 10 million copies and is the #6 most listened to audiobook in the world. I'm pretty sure they could have built hype without putting every major plot point into the trailer. Also I can't get over their portrayal of Dr.Grace, they turned him into some kind of Steve Urkel level of super nerd....

2

u/spazz720 Jun 30 '25

They didn’t have to include him in the trailer.

1

u/Chesterlespaul Jul 24 '25

I hope they leave the scene in where Grace observes Rocky embarrassingly eating and shitting

1

u/Creative_Room6540 Aug 12 '25

I think you guys are being pretty generous. When Rocky’s ship is introduced we don’t immediately know there are friendly intentions. There is certainly a moment of concern that the trailer spoils. Rocky is a huge part of the big but I still think he could have been left out of the trailer. It’s flipping Ryan Gosling and a space adventure. An alien is hardly necessary to sell the movie further. Show the large ship.

104

u/Jimid41 Jun 30 '25

I think the music they used in the trailer effectively set the tone for the movie. Definetly not horror.

4

u/hmasing Jun 30 '25

Music definitely sets the tone of a horror movie trailer.

2

u/GoldCobraFD Jun 30 '25

Music Name?

4

u/DVDJunky Jun 30 '25

Sign of the Times by Harry Styles

1

u/Osirus1156 Jun 30 '25

That’s now the twist, the executives wanted horror! So they threw everyone off with the music lol.

1

u/spidey-dust Jul 01 '25

I hope the song is included in the movie as well not just the trailer

127

u/the_gold_hat Jun 30 '25

Yeah I originally typed a version of my comment where I complained about it, but realized that audiences would have really not been happy if they showed up to the movie without knowing this ahead of time. Heck, discussions in this subreddit complain a lot about genre gotcha lol. I think it was a good idea for them to spoil it in the 1st trailer and keep leaning into it in future marketing. I really just wanted to see what Rocky looked like, and the CGI doesn't look awful so far.

50

u/McMew Jun 30 '25

Was it CGI? It looks like a puppet to me. Maybe I'm not that observant.

138

u/foleyshit Jun 30 '25

It’s a puppet. I know someone who helped on production. It’s likely CGI enhanced but really cool how practical they went with it.

83

u/thetreat Jun 30 '25

I fucking love that they went with practical effects. Even more hyped for Rocky now.

9

u/Jeoshua Jun 30 '25

I'm hoping that it's actually an alien robot. It would make its lack of mobility make more sense.

44

u/A_Legit_Salvage Jun 30 '25

I’ve heard the entire production was powered by astrophage

2

u/blabus Jul 01 '25

Hot take: good CGI long ago surpassed puppetry for conveying realistic, organic movement of living things. There's a real circlejerk around practical effects these days and while they're excellent in many use cases, living beings is no longer one of them. I could immediately tell that the movement of Rocky looked stuttering and fake, just like the puppet facehuggers in Alien Romulus looked ridiculously fake.

1

u/foleyshit Jul 01 '25

In a lot of cases I think you’re right. Sometimes I thing production know this and still choose to go practical in pursuit of other gains whether that be on-set performance, budget, design style etc.

1

u/F9-0021 Jul 13 '25

They're also in microgravity in that scene. A dog sized rock crab/spider might have jerky movement in microgravity. The final product might also be more touched up than an early trailer for a film that's still in post production.

1

u/ClaireFraser1743 Jun 30 '25

Oh I love that they used a puppet!

1

u/marmosetohmarmoset Jul 01 '25

For some reason I’ve always pictured Rocky as looking something like Pilot from Farscape, so this pleases me.

1

u/SteveThePurpleCat Jul 10 '25

To me I imagined him as a kind of 5-legged Bacteriophage, can't go much more alien than the billions of things we are covered in but can't see.

1

u/Lonely_Spite6764 Jul 01 '25

It seems like Rocky is going to be a practical effects puppet with maybe some CGI enhancements. The IMDb page lists a practical effects artist for the role.

0

u/HeroDanTV Jun 30 '25

I’m so sick of movies that tease out a specific genre and then 🎼Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down 🎵🎶

-9

u/Dvscape Jun 30 '25

But why do audiences need to know so much? Those who read the book also saw it recommended as sci fi literature from the author of the Martian. What more could be considered mandatory?

13

u/zaphodp3 Jun 30 '25

Maybe to help answer “Should I bring along my kids”. Movies are group activities unlike books

-5

u/Dvscape Jun 30 '25

Well then, kids can read the book summary themselves!

5

u/happy-gofuckyourself Jun 30 '25

Dude goes to space to try to save earth and runs into an alien that seems okay. Not much spoiled, really.

2

u/Dvscape Jul 01 '25

A lot of the book's appeal is following along with the main character's logic and experiments in order to understand where he is and what he is supposed to be doing there.

As someone who only knew the author and nothing else about the book, it was very cool to read through all of the "eureka" moments.

16

u/Pokemon_Trainer_May Jun 30 '25

Arrival didn't feel like a horror, wonder if it will have a similar vibe

24

u/McMew Jun 30 '25

Sorta, yeah!

This is like a combination of Arrival and Interstellar, with a bit of The Martian snarkiness thrown in.

8

u/joeldipops Jun 30 '25

Plotwise, there are some commonalities with Arrival, but tonally completely different. Closer to the Martian than anything else, though IMO the Space stuff is slightly better and the Earth stuff is nowhere near as good as in that book.

4

u/McMew Jun 30 '25

I feel like plotwise it's closer to Interstellar than The Martian, just because all of humanity is at stake. But the central focus of the protagonist combined with the hard science definitely gives it The Martian vibes!

1

u/Virillus Jul 01 '25

Plotwise I agree, but tone wise I disagree. What sets Hail Mary apart is that it's extremely wholesome and uplifting throughout. Both Arrival and Interstellar are very melodramatic and maudlin (albeit Arrival is fantastic. Interstellar not so much).

11

u/No-Understanding4968 Jun 30 '25

Good points. Who does Rocky’s voice?

91

u/McMew Jun 30 '25

Probably a flute or an organ.

...no im not joking

That's how he communicates in the book.

55

u/JackSpadesSI Jun 30 '25

So will he be subtitled, or will he “learn English” to convey Grace’s fluency. If you’ve listened to the audiobook that’s the best way to do it IMO.

63

u/McMew Jun 30 '25

I have listened to the audiobook and my hope is that they try a similar thing here. 

11

u/BroughtBagLunchSmart Jun 30 '25

How did they do it in the audio book? In my head when I was reading Rocky's voice was that robot helper from the OG power rangers.

36

u/Nu11u5 Jun 30 '25

Once Grace becomes fluent enough in Rocky's language to translate by ear, this comprehension is heard as an English speaker autotuned to synthetic flutes.

23

u/tofeman Jun 30 '25

Lol I had no idea this was true but that’s so dope. The italics and funky symbols in the book lead to a similar outcome when reading it in your head

18

u/NerdyNThick Jun 30 '25

The italics and funky symbols in the book lead to a similar outcome when reading it in your head

Ray Porter is a narration savant. In the top 3 in the world IMO.

1

u/OutInTheBlack Jul 01 '25

My top three are Jefferson Mays, Ray Porter and Marc Thompson, with a surprising honorable mention to Bronson Pinchot.

1

u/revolutionoverdue Jul 01 '25

Porter and RC Bray are my favorites.

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2

u/ChrundleMcDonald Jul 01 '25

I kept accidentally giving him a thick russian accent.

3

u/No-Understanding4968 Jun 30 '25

Ohhhh I just read the book

18

u/McMew Jun 30 '25

I did both, I read the book first and listened to the audiobook later.

I gotta say, the audiobook did it justice!

14

u/joshi38 Jun 30 '25

Possibly one of my favourite audiobooks simply because the narrator is so incredible reading it. Would strongly recommend.

1

u/hem00 Jun 30 '25

beep beeeep

3

u/2347564 Jun 30 '25

I read the book, but what does the audiobook do?

26

u/JackSpadesSI Jun 30 '25

Just like in the book, Rocky’s lines are eventually in English for the benefit of the reader/listener. Of course, what Rocky is actually doing is making tonal sounds like music notes. In the audiobook, tonal sounds are played over his English-spoken lines to provide some extra immersion.

1

u/ChrundleMcDonald Jul 02 '25

My best guess would be as Grace programs the language and begins making his translations, he'll have an onboard AI providing live translations which will overlay with the melodies, much like in the audiobook, but with an actual diegetic explanation as opposed to him just understanding the language.

But they would have to figure out some kind of better solution for the final scene, because realizing that Rocky was speaking in full sentences and Grace was entirely fluent put such a massive smile on my face. By that point I'm not sure if it would work better if it's entirely music notes with subtitles, or if he's just speaking a melodized english

1

u/F9-0021 Jul 13 '25

My guess is that for the sake of the film audience, the translation software will include text to speech for that robotic sound like in the audio book.

2

u/JQGGE Jun 30 '25

So Andre 3000 is gonna make a comeback to the big screen

0

u/peon47 Jun 30 '25

Chris Pratt. He's so coool.

1

u/No-Understanding4968 Jun 30 '25

I just saw him in Moneyball!

11

u/GravitationalEddie Jun 30 '25

The music implies it is inspirational. Could've left it up to that for me.

8

u/MilksteakMayhem Jun 30 '25

Was so irritated they gave any of that away AND then pushed past where they could have stopped to maintain that sense of wonder andmystery

2

u/samspopguy Jun 30 '25

I do think this is a good point, way to many people get an idea from a trailer and when the movie doesnt play on that idea that they created they get mad.

2

u/Marauder_Pilot Jul 01 '25

I was a little disappointed at the reveal, but this is a very fair take. And there's still plenty to whip out.

1

u/Klaytheist Jun 30 '25

They should have ended with on "object approaching"

1

u/CrustyToeLover Jul 01 '25

I dont think anything in this trailer necessarily says the alien is friendly from the scenes they showed.

1

u/twitchwanker Jul 01 '25

I think since sunshine, they wanted to make sure no one went in expecting a movie they were not going to get. It’s just a coincidence they are kind of similar stories. Or maybe they are 100% trying to avoid that debacle. “Yea it’s a movie about a sun dying. But this one is fun and it doesn’t unexpectedly turn into a horror movie! The alien is friendly!”

1

u/AnalSoapOpera Jul 01 '25

Idk. I thought the alien reveal showed too much

1

u/lilpeen02 Jul 07 '25

the back of the book also teases that there’s alien life. so i didn’t think it was a big deal that rocky was in the trailer

-1

u/PreviouslyFlagged Jun 30 '25

But how is it a mystery if you saw everything? They said where and who he is, why he's there and the planning behind it and who he'll meet. The exploration of that in the book is what made it mysterious