The Best Sci-Fi Movie of 2026 Owes Everything to This 11-Year-Old Masterpiece That Came Before It

2026 will go down in the books as a big year for movies. Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three are headed to theaters in December, Spider-Man: Brand New Day broke records this summer, Backrooms and Obsession completely reshaped what it means to be a successful horror movie and that’s not including one of the biggest movies of the year to date — and the best sci-fi movie of the year. Project Hail Mary opened in theaters back in March and was a massive hit with its thrilling and optimistic story of an ordinary man on an interstellar journey to save the world (literally). The movie made us laugh, made us cry, made us love a rock-like alien, and reminded us just how great Ryan Gosling is. There’s no question or debate that the film is a genuine masterpiece. But for as great as Project Hail Mary is, the movie doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It actually owes a lot to another sci-fi masterpiece that opened in theaters 11 years ago today.

On October 2, 2015, The Martian opened in theaters. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon along with Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and more, the film follows on astronaut’s efforts to survive on Mars after he’s left behind by his NASA crew. It’s a film that ends up being about the power of the human spirit, resiliency, and hope. Given how positive it is even with its high-stakes story, the film is a stark contrast to most space-based sci-fi — and its success makes Project Hail Mary even better.

The Martian Put Author Andy Weir’s Work on the Radar

The Martian is an adaptation of author Andy Weir’s 2011 novel of the same name, just like Project Hail Mary is an adaptation of Weir’s Project Hail Mary novel and while it’s not unusual for an author to have multiple novels adapted for screen, The Martian is particularly interesting. The Martian was Weir’s first novel and it’s incredibly detailed and scientifically accurate. Weir did extremely extensive research into things like orbital mechanics, botany, and surface conditions on Mars in order to be a richly detailed and extremely accurate story — some consider it to be hard or pure sci-fi. While those kind of stories can make for great reads, they aren’t always the best movies. Add to that the idea that much of The Martian’s story is focused on just one character (Mark Watney) and his efforts to survive alone on Mars after being stranded there, you have something that doesn’t sound like it would be a great movie. Who wants to watch one guy do serious science alone for approximately two hours?

Scott’s movie adaptation proved that the answer to that question was enough people to make the movie $630.6 million at the box office. The Martian movie stayed pretty close to Weir’s novel, maintained much of the scientific accuracy, and still delivered a brilliantly acted, incredibly well-made story that was deeply human. It also made people notice Weir’s work in a much larger way — especially Project Hail Mary. Weir’s third novel was a best seller and featured many of the same elements of The Martian: one central character, alone in space, doing specific and accurate science in a story that was ultimately deeply human. Given that The Martian turned out to be one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, it wasn’t a stretch to think that Project Hail Mary couldn’t do the same — and this year, we got that gem on the big screen and it’s every bit the masterpiece The Martian was.

Project Hail Mary May In Turn Give Us Another Weir Adaptation

What’s especially fascinating about how the trajectory of success that started with The Martian is that we might not be done with masterpiece movie adapted from Weir’s novels. His second book, Artemis, is also set to get a film adaptation. While it was announced that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — co-directors of Project Hail Mary — were announced to direct Artemis back in 2018, the film hasn’t quite happened yet. However, after Project Hail Mary, the filmmakers confirmed that they still plan to do Artemis. And Artemis will be unique in its own way. While both The Martian had a largely solitary story for its main character wrapped in serious science, Artemis is much more of a sci-fi heist story. It’s certainly a deviation from what we’ve seen with Project Hail Mary and The Martian, but we’re already excited for what it will bring when it finally becomes reality.

Have you seen The Martian? How do you think it stacks up to Project Hail Mary? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Details on Scrapped DCU War Movie Revealed, Including the Actor Who Would Have Joined the Franchise