Project Hail Mary’s Proves an Artemis Movie Is More Likely Than Ever

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The movie based on Andy Weir’s 2021 science fiction novel has been a huge success in theaters. In just five weeks, it’s earned nearly $579 million, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2026 so far, after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Pegasus 3.

The new film stars Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace, a former scientist now teaching middle school. He wakes up on a spaceship traveling between stars with no idea how he got there or what his mission is. This movie, from the creators of The Lego Movie, is a smart and funny science fiction story, and a potential modern classic. Following the popularity of films like The Martian and the novel Project Hail Mary, studios should consider adapting Andy Weir’s 2017 sci-fi thriller, Artemis.

Living In a Lunar Colony is Not That Easy

I’m completely hooked on this book set in Artemis, the first city ever built on the Moon! It’s the late 2080s, and the place is full of wealthy tourists and some really strange billionaires. The story follows Jazz Bashara, a porter who also does a little smuggling, and she gets offered a job – basically the perfect crime – by this incredibly rich guy, Trond Landvik. The payout is just too good to refuse. But things quickly go wrong, and she finds herself tangled up with the most dangerous crime syndicate in the city, and a huge conspiracy to control everything. It’s a wild ride!

Andy Weir’s novels, The Martian and Project Hail Mary, are known for their thrilling survival stories set in space. His latest, features a resourceful female lead named Jazz. Unlike the protagonists in his previous books, Jazz isn’t a formally trained scientist, but she’s a talented technician and engineer—even a smuggler—who keeps things running. The story focuses on Jazz and how her practical skills and scientific understanding are key to her survival in a challenging situation.

Andy Weir returns to the hard science fiction he’s known for with this novel about a heist set in a lunar colony. Like The Martian, it dives deep into the practical challenges – the economics, engineering, and technical details – of building and maintaining a city on the Moon, and realistically portrays the limitations involved.

I was really fascinated by how carefully the author thought through the science in this novel. It wasn’t just made up – the technology felt genuinely possible, especially the clever idea of using aluminum production to create oxygen for the city and the way they handled movement in the moon’s gravity. While some people have said the science isn’t quite as rock-solid as in The Martian, it still feels very much like ‘hard’ science fiction, and what really grabbed me was how it all served this incredibly exciting space heist story. It really felt like a thriller built on a foundation of realistic science.

Artemis Will Be Another Lord Miller Production

As a movie critic, I remember being excited when 20th Century Studios picked up the rights to Andy Weir’s novel back in May 2017 – even before the book, Artemis, hit shelves! What really got my attention was the team they assembled: Simon Kinberg and Aditya Sood, the producers behind The Martian, were on board, and then they tapped Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to direct. To top it off, they brought in Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who’s since become known for her work on Fallout, to write the script. It felt like a recipe for something special.

Given the success of Ridley Scott’s The Martian – which earned critical praise, seven Oscar nominations, and over $630 million at the box office on a $108 million budget – it’s easy to see why Hollywood was eager to adapt Artemis even before it was published. However, despite wanting to make Artemis before Project Hail Mary, the film spent years stuck in development. This was due to complications from the Disney-Fox merger, as well as concerns about the budget and technical challenges. Eight years later, while promoting Project Hail Mary,

The team behind the movie is still dedicated to making this lunar thriller a reality, and they’re currently working on it. However, recreating the moon’s unique gravity – which is much weaker than Earth’s – has proven to be a significant technical challenge. This issue with special effects caused delays for years, as filming it realistically was incredibly difficult.

The Artemis Adaptation Needs a Woman’s Touch

Despite its strengths, Artemis has received mixed reactions, largely due to the portrayal of its main character, Jazz. Many readers find her unlikeable and immature, and criticize her tendency to make rash choices. The characterization has been described as both controversial and inconsistent. Jazz’s background – born in Saudi Arabia and raised in a strict Muslim family on the moon – presents a unique challenge, as she’s shown to be aware of, yet disconnected from, her own cultural heritage.

I have to say, I was really bothered by how the film handled its main character. She’s presented as sexually active, but then the story constantly seems to punish her for it – it felt uncomfortably close to slut-shaming. Honestly, a lot of the focus on her sex life just felt irrelevant to the plot. And beyond that, the way she was written just didn’t ring true. It reminded me a lot of criticisms leveled at male authors trying to write female characters – her voice felt surprisingly similar to the male protagonist from the director’s previous film, The Martian. It just didn’t feel authentic, and it was a noticeable flaw in the storytelling.

Despite some issues surrounding its development, the team behind Artemis – Lord and Miller – have a strong track record. With Geneva Robertson-Dworet writing the script – known for creating strong, complex female leads – Artemis has the potential to be as successful as her other action films starring women, like Captain Marvel and Tomb Raider. Plus, if they cast a skilled actor as Jazz, the movie could even become more popular than the original story it’s based on.

With the Artemis script now finalized and production ready, fans of Andy Weir’s second novel are eagerly awaiting updates on the movie adaptation. Recent news suggests that Artemis may be closer to release than ever before.

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2026-04-26 00:37