LOS ANGELES – A team of animated Marvel characters rocketed past a group of wormhole-bound astronauts at the weekend box office.
Animated adventure Big Hero 6, featuring the inflatable robot Baymax and his prodigy pal Hiro from the Marvel comic book, debuted in first place with $56.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The space saga Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as astronauts, took off in second place with $50 million, estimates said.
Before launching in more than 3,500 theatres this weekend, writer-director Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar played Wednesday and Thursday in about 250 theatres equipped to project the movie on film — The Dark Knight filmmaker’s preferred method of showcasing his creations.
Interstellar opened below Nolan’s last film, the mind-bending thriller Inception, which conjured up $62.8 million when it debuted in 2010. Nolan’s sci-fi odyssey also wasn’t in the orbit of last year’s $55.8 million opening for space epic, Gravity. Interstellar has a hefty running time of 169 minutes, while Gravity clocked in at 91 minutes.
If the estimates hold up, this weekend will mark the fourth time in box office history that a pair of films both opened with $50 million or above. The previous matchups were Monsters University vs. World War Z in 2013, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted vs. Prometheus in 2012, and WALL-E vs. Wanted in 2008. In each instance, the animated option came out on top.
Interstellar, which cost a reported $165 million, dominated overseas, earning an additional $80 million from 62 markets, including the United Kingdom, South Korea, Russia and France. The film is set to open in China on Wednesday.
The rest of the weekend’s Top 5 were Gone Girl, Ouija and St. Vincent.
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