Why Project Hail Mary Will Be Streaming On MGM+ Instead Of Prime Video

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Sci-fi fans got some good news recently, as you will soon be able to watch “Project Hail Mary” at home on a major streaming service. Director Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s much-believed adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel of the same name has been available on VOD for several weeks now, but many folks were waiting to watch it on a streaming service they already pay for. The problem? The movie will be making its streaming debut on MGM+ and not Prime Video, as had been assumed.

It was recently confirmed that “Project Hail Mary” will debut on MGM+ on June 18, 2026. That will be its exclusive streaming home for a time. Amazon MGM Studios produced the blockbuster, which is why many people simply assumed Prime Video, Amazon’s major streaming service, would be the movie’s streaming destination. Amazon acquired MGM in an $8.5 billion deal in 2022. That deal included the studio’s library and all of its other assets.

Among those assets was the streaming service Epix, which was thereafter rebranded as MGM+. To state the obvious, MGM+ is not nearly as popular, in terms of its subscriber base, as Prime Video. So, that still leaves a lot of viewers with the ultimate notion of having to subscribe to yet another streaming service, rent the movie on VOD, or wait longer. The question is, why is the film not going to Prime Video first?

As explained by Deadline, it boils down to complex, corporate dealings and how these movies are ultimately given the green light in the first place. “Movies that go from theatrical to Prime Video, are greenlit differently, often have their budgets covered by Prime and are monetized under a different model internally,” the outlet explained.

“Project Hail Mary” was given the green light through the MGM side of the company and was therefore given the full release treatment, including a 90-day theatrical window, a premium VOD period, and then an initial streaming window on MGM+. This is known as the “pay-one” window, meaning the first paid service that will be home to a given movie.

This all proved to be good business, as “Project Hail Mary” is one of the biggest box office hits of 2026, having earned $680 million in theaters worldwide. For those awaiting the Prime Video debut, the good news is that the movie will eventually get there. Prime Video is a secondary streaming destination for these MGM+ titles. It’s needlessly complicated for the average viewer, but it’s not unlike how Universal Pictures movies go to Peacock first, Netflix later.

In this case, because of the way the movie was handled on paper at Amazon, it wasn’t a Prime Video film that got a theatrical release. Rather, it was an MGM movie that would eventually get a streaming release. Fortunately, Prime Video will be part of the equation at some point, it’s just going to require a longer wait. That’s the nature of the beast: too many streaming services and too many factors that determine when and where a movie will be available.

Naturally, there’s a lot of interest from people who missed this one in theaters since it’s one of the best sci-fi movies of 2026 so far. It may well go down as one of the best movies of any kind overall when all’s said and done. So, it’s either subscribe to MGM+ or wait it out.

You can also grab the “Project Hail Mary” book from Amazon.