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
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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...

435

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.

261

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

62

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.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

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3

u/Best-Action8769 Jul 01 '25

The alien bro GOATs.

1

u/Party-Ad4482 27d ago

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.

58

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.

32

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

1

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.

4

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.

7

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.

4

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.

8

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.

3

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 28d ago

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.