Family audiences lifted ‘Big Hero 6’ over ‘Interstellar’ and the fan boys and girls who turned out in force for Christopher Nolan’s space adventure in one of the fiercest box office match-ups of the year.
‘Big Hero 6’ topped the charts with $56.2 million from 3,761 locations, continuing Walt Disney Animation Studios’ recent hot streak following the success of ‘Frozen’ and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’, Variety reported.
Despite a formidable dueling partner in ‘Big Hero 6’, ‘Interstellar’ scored a sizable $50 million from 3,561 locations, according to studio estimates. If numbers for the ‘Interstellar’ hold, it will mark only the fourth time in history that two films have debuted to more than $50 million at the domestic box office, and each one of the previous occasions took place in the summer, when ticket sales are at their highest.
Both films carry massive $165 million price tags, so in order to turn a profit, they must resonate with viewers across the globe and to demonstrate staying power. Nolan’s ‘Inception’, another trippy blockbuster, managed to become one of 2010’s biggest hits, holding on to first place for three consecutive weeks.
Likewise, Walt Disney Studios’ recent global blockbuster ‘Frozen’ refused to loosen its hold on audiences. Despite opening over Thanksgiving, it continued to generate impressive returns through February.
‘Interstellar’ stars the 2013-Oscar-winners Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway and centers on a group of space explorers who leave an ecologically devastated Earth to travel through wormholes in order to find a new home for humanity.
Paramount Pictures released ‘Interstellar’ domestically, while Warner Bros. handled the foreign rollout. Over an hour of ‘Interstellar’ was shot using IMAX cameras, making it the preferred venue for cinephiles and Nolan aficionados. By racking up more than a quarter of its earnings in IMAX, ‘Interstellar’ gave the wide screen company the largest percentage of box office it has ever generated for a first-run release.
‘Big Hero 6’, loosely based on a Marvel Comics series of the same name, follows a science prodigy and his lovable robot as they stumble upon a criminal conspiracy. The movie was co-directed by Don Hall (Winnie the Pooh) and Chris Williams (Bolt), the voice cast features Scott Adsit, Damon Wayans Jr. and Maya Rudolph.
The robust grosses for ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Big Hero 6’ didn’t result in too many leftovers. David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl’ scored third place with $6.1 million, bringing its total to $145 million, while the horror movie ‘Ouija’ captured fourth place with $6 million, pushing its earnings to $43.5 million.
