Disney’s Big Hero 6 and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar showed up at the right time to save Hollywood, both scoring debuts at or above $50 million. Meanwhile, Gone Girl experienced a nice jump as it continues to chug along.
Big Hero 6 swooped in with $56.2 million. Thanks to extensive marketing from Disney that built-up the loveable robot Baymax and made sure audiences didn’t forget that the studio also made Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, the film was a big hit with audiences. Families made up 72 percent of the audience, according to Box Office Mojo and they loved it, giving it an A CinemaScore grade. While it might not do Frozen-style business, it should at least do as well as Wreck-It Ralph in the long run.
Up next is Interstellar, which grossed $50 million, according to Rentrak stats. If you add in business from Wednesday and Thursday, the number climbs to $52.15 million.
While the film grossed $13.4 million from IMAX screenings, Interstellar didn’t turn out to be the opening weekend blockbuster Warner Bros. and Paramount were hoping for. It fell $5 million shy of Gravity’s opening last year and earned some mixed reviews. The movie is nearly three-hours long, but considering that there weren’t many other movies at the box office, most theaters were able to show multiple screenings simultaneously.
Interstellar might be in it for the long haul, though. There’s not much else out there for the IMAX screens and the older audience might not have rushed to see it this weekend.
In third place was Gone Girl, which made $6.1 million. It’s up to an astonishing $145.4 million domestically, proving that audiences are interested in darker fare from Hollywood.
Ouija added $6 million, while Nightcrawler dropped to just $5.5 million in its second weekend. Bill Murray’s St. Vincent rounded out the top 5 with $5.7 million.
image of Anne Hathaway courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com