Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Big Hero 6′ Have a Showdown
The showdown between 'Interstellar' and 'Big Hero 6' has got to be one of the most interesting things to happen to the box office in 2014. After all, it would be tough to find two movies that are simultaneously so different and so alike. Both are pro-science adventures that are all about using your intelligence to save your friends and family. However, one is an animated, family friendly release from Disney and the other is a three-hour epic from the ever-serious Christopher Nolan. In other words, they represent opposite ends of the blockbuster spectrum.
But 'Big Hero 6' took the weekend.
Film | Weekend | Per Screen | ||
1 | Big Hero 6 | $56,200,000 | $14,943 | $56,200,000 |
2 | Interstellar | $50,000,000 | $14,041 | $52,151,000 |
3 | Gone Girl | $6,100,000 (-28.1) | $2,743 | $145,428,000 |
4 | Ouija | $6,017,000 (-44.0) | $2,245 | $43,472,000 |
5 | St. Vincent | $5,707,000 (-21.0) | $2,325 | $27,356,000 |
6 | Nightcrawler | $5,512,000 (-47.2) | $1,993 | $19,756,000 |
7 | Fury | $5,500,000 (-37.6) | $1,941 | $69,268,000 |
8 | John Wick | $4,075,000 (-49.0) | $1,894 | $34,745,000 |
9 | Alexander and the Terrible... | $3,495,000 (-46.9) | $1,468 | $59,208,000 |
10 | The Book of Life | $2,800,000 (-65.9) | $1,293 | $45,215,000 |
With a three-day haul of $56 million, 'Big Hero 6' leapt into the top spot. A lot contributed to this victory: the adorable marketing, the superhero angle, the good reviews and, most importantly, the recent drought of family-friendly fare. It's impossible to tell at the moment if the film will strike a nerve and become a 'Frozen'-style phenomenon or if it'll just do solid 'Wreck-It Ralph' numbers, but this is a great start.
'Interstellar' may have opened in second place, but a $50 million opening for a lengthy science fiction epic without a major franchise hook is fantastic. The big question is whether or not it'll hang around and do 'Inception' numbers or if the hugely divisive response will torpedo it next weekend. This was a risky project for Paramount and they're not celebrating yet. They'll save the celebrations for next weekend.
In third place, the ever-reliable 'Gone Girl' continued to hold on while newer films plummeted, grossing $6 million for a $145 million total. Eventually, the film's winning streak will come to an end and it'll peter our (probably around the time that 'The Hunger Games' hits), but this is one of the biggest success stories of 2014.
Speaking of success stories, 'St. Vincent' jumped up to fifth place (we'll just bypass 'Ouija' in fourth place because who cares?) with $5 million, bringing this little film's total gross to $27 million. It's a formula for any low budget comedy moving forward: cast Bill Murray as an old curmudgeon and watch the cash roll in.
Last week's big winner, 'Nightcrawler,' took a big drop to sixth place, earning $5 million in its second weekend for $19 million total. Those aren't amazing numbers, but they're very solid for a production that only cost $8 million to produce. It'll be in the black soon enough. The same goes for 'Fury' and 'John Wick' in seventh and eighth place. None of 'em are doing gangbusters numbers, but they're making enough over their budgets to look respectable. Even if they don't recoup marketing losses, they won't look like total disasters.