Disney's new Marvel-inspired animated feature ‘Big Hero 6’ blasts past Christopher Nolan's ‘Interstellar’ to win the domestic box office race with $56.2 million from 3,761 theaters.
Disney's new original animated feature Big Hero 6 blasted past Christopher Nolan's Interstellar to win the domestic box office race with $56.2 million from 3,761 theaters. Directed by Don Hall (Winnie the Pooh) and Chris Williams (Bolt), and produced by Roy Conli (Tangled), the Marvel-inspired Big Hero 6 had the second-highest animated opening of the year, Warner Bros.’ The LEGO Movie ($69 million) and ahead of DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 ($49.5 million).
Costing $165 million to produce, Big Hero 6 is an origin story that chronicles the special bond that develops between Baymax (Scott Adsit), a plus-sized inflatable robot, and robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter). Together they transform into high-tech heroes determined to help save the city of San Fransokyo.
Rolling out slowly internationally, Big Hero 6 grossed $7.6 million from 17 markets for an early foreign total of $23 million and a worldwide total of roughly $79 million. (The animated feature opened two weeks earlier in Russia.)
Coming in slightly behind expectations, Interstellar fell short of its projected $50 million debut at the North American box office. The space opus earned $47.5 million for the weekend, putting its five-day launch at $49.7 million for partners Paramount and Warner Bros. (Per Nolan's wishes, the film opened two days early in 250 theaters equipped to project in film.) Nolan's film did massive business on IMAX and premium large-format screens, with IMAX locations alone turning in $13.4 million.
Like Disney’s Big Hero 6, Interstellar cost $165 million to make. The film stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as astronauts trying to save the human race, with the ensemble cast also including Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine.
Internationally, Interstellar opened to an estimated $80 million from 62 markets for a worldwide debut of $129.7 million. Warner Bros., which is handling the movie overseas, said Interstellar's foreign performance is on par with Gravity. It opened in virtually every country around the globe, save for China (November 12), Japan (November 22) and Venezuela (December 5).
David Fincher's Gone Girl moved back up to number three, grossing $6.1 million as it jumped the $300 million mark worldwide, finishing Sunday with total ticket sales of $303.7 million for Fox. Internationally, the Fox 2000 film has now earned $158.3 million.
Universal’s horror holdover Ouija, based on the classic Hasbro board game, came in fourth place, taking in $6 million for a domestic total of $43.5 million.
Bill Murray's comedy St. Vincent moved up the chart to number five, enjoying the best hold of any film in the top 10. From The Weinstein Co. and Chernin Entertainment, the movie brought in $5.7 million for a domestic total of of $27.4 million.
The critically acclaimed Nightcrawler came in sixth place, bringing in $5.51 million for Open Road Films for a total of $19.8 million.
Sony's Fury came in seventh place, taking in $5.5 million in its fourth weekend out to push the film’s domestic total to $69.3 million.
John Wick, from Lionsgate, came in eighth place over its third weekend in wide release with $4.1 million for a domestic total of $34.7 million. Directed by Chad Stahelski, the R-rated action picture stars Keanu Reeves as an ex-hitman who comes out of a peaceful retirement to hunt down the gangsters who killed his puppy.
Disney's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day placed number nine in its fifth weekend, bringing in $3.5 million for a domestic total of $59.2 million.
Rounding out the list at number 10 is Reel FX’s Book of Life, directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro. Distributed by Fox, the animated feature made an additional $2.8 million for a domestic total of $45.2 million. Overseas, The Book of Life -- budgeted at $50 million -- has brought in $34.5 million to date for a worldwide total of $79.7 million.
Elsewhere, The Boxtrolls crossed the $100 million mark worldwide, becoming the top LAIKA title of all time. Dracula Untold crossed $200 million, finishing Sunday with a global total of $202.6 million.
Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
