The top release of the weekend was Walt Disney's Big Hero 6. If the film was somewhat drowned out in terms of film pundit-fueled publicity for Interstellar, it didn't matter much. The well-reviewed (and mostly delightful) Disney comic book superhero adventure (loosely based on a Marvel comic) debuted with a whopping $56.2 million over its opening weekend. Not only is this Walt Disney's biggest (non-Pixar) weekend debut outside of Frozen (which earned $67m of its $93m Thanksgiving weekend over the Fri-Sun frame), but it's Walt Disney Animation's biggest stand-alone weekend ever, topping the $49m debut for Wreck It Ralph on the first weekend of November in 2012. Wreck It Ralph merely had to contend with the $24m debut of Denzel Washington's R-rated drama Flight. That Big Hero 6 did so well even with an equally "big" movie like Interstellar scooping up audiences (and most of the publicity) shows the strength of the Disney brand and the strong marketing efforts of the Mouse House. Moreover, it shows that there is room for more than one big film in the marketplace as long as they aren't chasing the same demographics.
Disney sold this one primarily on the strength of its super-powered action and the crowd-pleasing sidekick robot (Baymax). The trick now is to expand the campaign to highlight the colorful supporting cast of would-be science nerd superheros. The longterm comparison points remain Wreck It Ralph and A Christmas Carol, both of which opened over the first weekend of November in 2012 and 2009 respectively. If Big Hero 6 plays like Wreck It Ralph ($49m debut/$189m domestic cume), it gets to a whopping $ 216m domestic, good for one of the biggest Disney toon releases behind only Frozen ($400m), The Lion King ($422m via rereleases, $312m on first release), and Aladdin ($217m). If it plays like Robert Zemeckis's A Christmas Carol ($30m/$137m), it gets to $255m domestic. That probably won't happen, but it goes to show you how leggy that alleged "flop" really was five years ago (it earned $325m worldwide, but cost $200m to produce).
The only downside over the long haul is that
Chris Nolan's Interstellar has earned $49.6 million since opening on Tuesday, and believe you me it's a lot more complicated than that. The $165 million adventure had a somewhat odd unique schedule, going out in 249 film-only theaters and racking up around $2.15 million prior to its national roll-out on Thursday at 8:00pm, where it grabbed another $2.7m from pre-release previews. The Paramount (
I would argue that Interstellar, which has somber, "why so serious?" sequences of scientific debate, family trauma, and coldly analytic space exploration as opposed to shoot-outs, car chases, and zero-gravity fisticuffs, isn't as explicitly as commercial a film as Inception. And McConaissance or not, Matthew McConaughey isn't the mega movie star that Leonardo DiCaprio was in 2010 and still is today, nor is he a comparable draw to Sandra Bullock in relation to Gravity. All of this is meant to highlight that it's no tragedy that Interstellar's debut weekend ended up well below Inception or short of Gravity. The film earned $13.4 million (26%) in IMAX alone, along with $5.25m in other premium-large-format screens. The $165 million production played 52% male and 75% over 25 years old. This is the first time a Christopher Nolan picture has not debuted at #1 since Insomnia in 2002. Obviously that will mean that Nolan will be brought in front of a tribunal Monday morning on the Paramount (Viacom Inc.) lot, which you can only watch live if your HDTV can also project film.
Obviously, to repeat a common mantra, rank is irrelevant although frankly I think the mixed-positive reviews (as opposed to outright raves) hurt just a little in terms of getting moviegoers to commit to a dry 165-minute outer-space drama. I think the end result of this isn't that Interstellar is some kind of flop or disappointment but rather that it might just be a regular blockbuster, a well-marketed film that opened big for an original property and now will play like a normal movie as opposed to some kind of zeitgeist-grabbing event. If it plays like Skyfall ($90m debut/$304m finish), it gets to $166m domestic.
If it plays like Thor: The Dark World ($85m/$206m), it gets to $120m domestic, which is obviously a worst-case scenario. Best case is that I'm totally wrong about the whole zeitgeist thing and it plays like Gravity or Inception and ends up at around $250m domestic, but we'll know more next weekend. It certainly could be a consensus choice over the next month as the marketplace gets bawdy comedies (Horrible Bosses 2, Dumb and Dumber To), animated fare (Penguins of Madagascar), and uber-blockbusters that play mostly to the converted at this point (Hunger Games: Mockingjay part I).
Of note, the film also opened in most overseas markets courtesy of Warner Bros. (Time Warner Inc.). The film opened in 35 markets on Thursday and 22 additional markets on Friday. As of today, it has earned $82.9 million overseas. That brings the film's worldwide cume to $132.6m. International numbers are a bit of a crap shoot here, as it's the kind of film that feels like catnip for foreign audiences but lacks the 3D advantage. Nonetheless, we'll see by next week (when it opens in China on Wednesday) if the overseas figures threaten to render the domestic gross mere trivia or merely turn a solid hit into a massive one.The main limited release this weekend was Focus Features' The Theory of Everything. The Stephen Hawking/Jane Hawking biopic, which was sold as a romance between the great scientist and his "stand by your man" wife, boasts Oscar-friendly buzz, especially from Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. As such, the film opened on five screens this weekend and earned $207,000 for its debut frame for a fine $41,400k per-screen average. Gone Girl earned another $6.1m over the weekend, down just 28% from last frame, and bringing its cume to $145.43m. Ouija earned $6m for its third frame, down an inexplicably not terrible 44% (I guess the male-centric new releases helped the teen girl-friendly horror film). Universal's Halloween opus has now earned $43.5m.
St. Vincent had another strong hold. The Bill Murray/Melissa McCarthy comedy earned $5.71 million for the weekend, down just 25% from last weekend and giving the Weinstein Company film a solid $27.36m domestic cume. The superb Nightcrawler held okay on its second weekend, earning $5.5m (-44%) and bringing the $8.5m thriller's cume to $19.7m. Sony's Fury continued to be one of the quieter hits of the season, earning another $5.5m weekend for a $69.26m cume. John Wick earned $4.075m in its third weekend, down 49% from the last frame, and has now earned $34.7m domestic. It's holding on, but it's already bleeding screens.
Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day earned around $3.4 million for the frame and brought its cume up to $59m. It has earned $78.5m worldwide. The Book of Life earned $2.8m in weekend four and has now earned $45m domestic. Birdman expanded to 462 theaters this weekend and earned around $2.3m (-3%) for its troubles, bringing the Michael Keaton vehicle's cume to $8m. Warner Bros.' The Judge earned another $1.77 million (-47%) and brought its cume to $42.58m while Annabelle earned $0.555m (-72% now that Halloween is over) and brought its cume to $83.53m.
The Equalizer is wrapping up in domestic release, having earned $900,000 for the weekend and a current domestic $98m cume. $100m is possible, and I imagine Sony will want to get there if at all possible. Addicted grossed $325k (-52%) for a $17m domestic cume. Dracula Untold has now earned $200m worldwide, with a $202m worldwide cume and a $54.9m domestic cume. Expect Dracula Poorly Explained in a couple years. Guardians of the Galaxy is still doing well in its last overseas markets and has earned $768m worldwide.
That it for today. Join us next weekend when Universal unleashes its big Oscar contender for 2014, Dumb and Dumber To while Foxcatcher and The Homesman go limited. The wild card will be Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas, which drops in 400 screens and may play well among those with (all due respect) persecution complexes about being forced to say "Happy Holidays" to their Jewish neighbors. In the meantime, enjoy the top-ten list below courtesy of Rentrak.
