--- title: Is The Martian Based on a True Story description: People on Twitter seem to think The Martian with Matt Damon is a true story canonical: https://time.com/4066689/the-martian-tweets-true-story/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-08T16:36:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:25:45.728Z og:title: Is The Martian Based on a True Story og:description: People on Twitter seem to think The Martian with Matt Damon is a true story og:url: https://time.com/4066689/the-martian-tweets-true-story/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is The Martian Based on a True Story twitter:description: People on Twitter seem to think The Martian with Matt Damon is a true story twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Some People Think _The Martian_ Is Based on a True Story According to Twitter  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 8, 2015 4:36 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 8, 2015 4:36 PM UTC Box office smash _The Martian_ has definitely made an impact. The new thriller not only raked in $55 million in its opening weekend, it also apparently prompted some to start questioning everything they know about space. As [BuzzFeed](http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/the-martian-is-not-a-true-story#.kownVoJX3w) has pointed out, several tweets suggest that some moviegoers think the film, in which Matt Damon plays an astronaut stranded on Mars, is based on a true story. > [](https://twitter.com/GnastyGnate/status/651264176430686212) > [](https://twitter.com/sebastmemestan/status/648571364551561216) > [](https://twitter.com/get%5F%5F%5FRICH/status/650457096543145984) > [](https://twitter.com/HaydenPicker/status/650837967301382144) > [](https://twitter.com/MrBrianMaher/status/650022541617184768) But a lot of people do tweet jokes and sarcastic remarks, so it is possible, and likely, that these users are just kidding around. For example: > [](https://twitter.com/lucyliz/status/651471533995487232) That said, some parts of the movie do offer pretty accurate depictions of the red planet’s landscape, as TIME pointed out [here](http://time.com/4055413/martian-movie-review-science-accuracy-matt-damon/). Read next: [What _The Martian_ Gets Right (and Wrong) About Science](http://time.com/4055413/martian-movie-review-science-accuracy-matt-damon/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4066689/the-martian-tweets-true-story/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4066689/the-martian-tweets-true-story/"},"headline":"Some People Think The Martian Is Based on a True Story According to Twitter","datePublished":"2015-10-08T16:36:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:45.728Z","description":"Earth to everyone...","url":"https://time.com/4066689/the-martian-tweets-true-story/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Internet"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4066689/the-martian-tweets-true-story/","name":"Some People Think The Martian Is Based on a True Story According to Twitter"}}]}] ```