Box Office: 'Big Hero 6' Narrowly Defeats 'Interstellar'
Interstellar has been one of the most anticipated films of the year, and one of the most hyped Christopher Nolan films since the end of his Dark Knight trilogy. But it fell to one of the most well-promoted Disney efforts since...well, since Frozen.
Yes, Big Hero 6 opened at no. 1 with $56.2 million, narrowly defeating Interstellar, which brought it to a five-day opening total of $52.2 million.
While both these openings are solid, the films need to do big business overseas to make up their production budgets. Both Interstellar and Big Hero 6 cost $165 million to produce, meaning this strong opening weekend is only the start of what could be a long box office journey ahead, particularly considering that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 is looming on the horizon to eat everyone else's lunch.
Specifically, while Interstellar did solid numbers, it's actually a bit of a good news/bad news situation for Nolan. On the one hand, Interstellar delivered one of the best openings of the fall season so far. On the other hand, this is his weakest domestic opening since 2006's The Prestige. It's also his first film since 2002's Insomnia to fail to open at No. 1. Still, there's optimism that strong word of mouth will carry the film, along with its A-list lineup that includes Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain.
In other box office news, David Fincher's Gone Girl surpassed $300 million this weekend. Its $6.1 million haul for the weekend brought it up to $303.7 million worldwide, solidifying its status as a bonafide hit for 20th Century Fox and Fincher. Also performing admirably: horror film Ouija, which took in another $6 million to bring its total to $43.5 million, an impressive number for a film about a board game (wait, does Ouija even count as a board game?). The film was made on a budget of just $5 million, and has already earned eight times that amount in its two weeks of release.
Similarly impressive is Bill Murray's comedy St. Vincent, which moved up to No. 5. The film is gaining ground thanks to strong word of mouth, bringing in $5.7 million to keep it in the Top 5.
But how did the other films perform at the box office this weekend? Check out the full Top 10 below:
1. Big Hero 6 ($56.2 million)
2. Interstellar ($52.2 million)
3. Gone Girl ($6.1 million)
4. Ouija ($6 million)
5. St. Vincent ($5.7 million)
6. Nightcrawler ($5.51 million)
7. Fury ($5.5 million)
8. John Wick ($4.1 million)
9. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ($3.5 million)
10. The Book of Life ($2.8 million)
So did you hit the theaters this weekend? If so, what did you see? And what did you think? Sound off in the comments!
Credit: Disney