If Project Hail Mary Blew Your Mind, These MGM+ Sci-Fi Films Are Your Next Obsession
Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary is one of the most beloved science fiction stories of the modern era — a breathtaking blend of hard science, survival instinct, and unexpected friendship set against the backdrop of an empty universe. Whether you experienced it as a novel or through its much-anticipated film adaptation, the story leaves a distinctive mark: a deep craving for more science fiction that actually respects your intelligence while breaking your heart in the best possible way.
If you have an MGM+ subscription and you're still riding that post-Project Hail Mary high, you're in luck. The platform carries a rich catalog of science fiction films that share the same DNA — grounded storytelling, emotional depth, and a genuine sense of cosmic wonder. Here are three of the best sci-fi movies on MGM+ to watch next.
1. The Martian (2015)
For Fans Who Love Survival Science and Wit Under Pressure
It should come as no surprise that another Andy Weir adaptation tops this list. The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon as stranded astronaut Mark Watney, is essentially the spiritual predecessor to Project Hail Mary — and the parallels are impossible to ignore. Both stories center on a lone scientist in an impossibly hostile environment who must use every ounce of ingenuity, humor, and sheer stubbornness to survive.
What makes The Martian so compelling is the same quality that defines Weir's writing across all his work: the science is the story. Watching Mark Watney problem-solve his way across the Martian surface, growing potatoes in a habitat using his own waste as fertilizer, is genuinely thrilling — not in spite of the scientific detail, but because of it. The film trusts that its audience is smart enough to follow along, and that trust pays off in enormous emotional dividends.
Ridley Scott delivers one of his most accessible and crowd-pleasing films here, and Matt Damon's performance is perfectly calibrated — funny and warm while never undercutting the genuine terror of the situation. If Project Hail Mary made you fall in love with a protagonist who talks to himself and refuses to give up, The Martian will feel like a homecoming.
2. Contact (1997)
For Fans Who Want First Contact Done Right
One of the central pleasures of Project Hail Mary is the way it handles an alien encounter — with curiosity, scientific rigor, and a profound emotional intelligence that most films never manage to achieve. If that resonated with you, Robert Zemeckis's Contact, based on Carl Sagan's landmark novel, is essential viewing.
Jodie Foster stars as Dr. Ellie Arroway, a SETI researcher who detects the first confirmed signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence. The film is less concerned with alien invasions or spectacular CGI battles than it is with the human cost of discovery — what it means to believe in something unprovable, and what we risk by reaching out into the dark.
Contact remains one of the most scientifically literate mainstream science fiction films ever made. Sagan's influence is evident in every frame: the film takes both science and faith seriously, refusing to dismiss either, and the result is a story that feels genuinely philosophical rather than simply plot-driven. The famous opening sequence alone — a camera pulling back through decades of radio signals as it leaves Earth — is arguably one of the greatest opening shots in science fiction cinema.
For viewers who loved the way Project Hail Mary treated first contact as an occasion for wonder rather than warfare, Contact is the gold standard.
3. Arrival (2016)
For Fans Who Want Emotional Devastation Wrapped in Hard Sci-Fi
Denis Villeneuve's Arrival is, simply put, one of the finest science fiction films of the 21st century — and if you loved the emotional gut-punch buried inside Project Hail Mary's optimistic adventure, this film will hit you in very similar ways.
Amy Adams plays Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist recruited by the U.S. military to communicate with alien spacecraft that have appeared at twelve locations around the globe. What begins as a first-contact thriller slowly reveals itself to be something far more personal and devastating — a meditation on time, loss, memory, and the choices we make when we know what the future holds.
Arrival is built around a genuinely innovative sci-fi concept (drawn from Ted Chiang's short story "Story of Your Life"), and it executes that concept with extraordinary discipline. The film never cheats, never reaches for easy emotion, and never lets spectacle override meaning. Like Project Hail Mary, it believes that the most powerful thing science fiction can do is make the abstract deeply, painfully human.
Villeneuve's direction is immaculate, Bradford Young's cinematography is hauntingly beautiful, and Adams delivers a career-best performance. The film's final act — once you understand the full structure of what you've been watching — is among the most emotionally overwhelming in recent memory.
Why These Three Films Belong Together
What unites The Martian, Contact, and Arrival — and what connects all three to Project Hail Mary — is a shared belief that science fiction is most powerful when it's most human. These aren't films about technology or spectacle. They're films about curiosity, connection, and what we discover about ourselves when we stare into the unknown.
All three are currently available to stream on MGM+, making them the perfect marathon for anyone still processing the wonder that Project Hail Mary left behind. Queue them up, clear your schedule, and prepare to have your mind — and your heart — thoroughly expanded.
- The Martian (2015) — For the problem-solving, survival-driven sci-fi experience
- Contact (1997) — For thoughtful, philosophically rich first-contact storytelling
- Arrival (2016) — For emotional depth wrapped inside an ingenious sci-fi concept
Science fiction at its best reminds us that the universe is vast, strange, and full of possibility — and that we are small, brilliant, and endlessly worth saving. These three films, like Project Hail Mary itself, make that case beautifully.