"Interstellar" comes in 2nd with $50M
By Derrik J. Lang, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --A team of animated Marvel characters rocketed past a group of wormhole-bound astronauts at the weekend box office.
Disney's 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. Paramount's 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 theaters this weekend, writer-director Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" played Wednesday and Thursday in about 250 theaters 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 Paramount's previous space epic, "Gravity." ''Interstellar" has a hefty running time of 169 minutes, while "Gravity" clocked in at 91 minutes.
"The difference is 'Interstellar' isn't in 3D, and certainly the running time on our film does change the play pattern in that you lose an evening show," said Megan Colligan, Paramount's head of domestic marketing and distribution. "Given those factors, we did spectacularly well. 'Gravity' also opened by itself. We had another big film in the marketplace."
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.
"Both movies were able to do well without cannibalizing each other's audiences," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Rentrak. "By opening a diversity of product against each other, the industry can expand the marketplace. It's a perfect example of counterprogramming. It paid off for the industry, and it just doesn't happen that often."
Dergarabedian noted the box office total was down about 7 percent compared with the same weekend last year, when the Disney superhero sequel "Thor: The Dark World" opened with $85.7 million.
"Interstellar," which cost a reported $165 million and is being distributed by Warner Bros. internationally, 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.
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Big Hero 6," $56.2 million ($7.6 million international).
3. "Interstellar," $50 million ($80 million international).
3. "Gone Girl," $6.1 million ($8.5 million international).
4. "Ouija," $6 million ($3.2 million international).
5. "St. Vincent," $5.7 million.
6. "Nightcrawler," $5.5 million ($1 million international).
7. "Fury," $5.5 million ($7 million international).
8. "John Wick," $4 million. ($1.8 million international).
9. "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," $3.5 million ($1.7 million international).
10. "The Book of Life," $2.8 million ($3.5 million international).
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:
1. "Interstellar," $80 million.
2. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," $17.3 million.
3. "The Maze Runner," $11.6 million.
4. "Gone Girl," $8.5 million.
5. "Big Hero 6," $7.6 million.
6. "Fury," $7 million.
7. "Annabelle," $6.7 million.
8. "Dracula Untold," $6.4 million.
9. "For Love or Money," $4.8 million.
10. "Kung Fu Jungle," $4 million.
From Restoring To Hopefully Preserving Multi-Camera Categories At The Emmys
When Gary Baum, ASC won his fourth career Emmy Award earlier this month, it was especially gratifying in that the honor came in a category--Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Half-Hour Series--that had been restored thanks in part to a grass-roots initiative among cinematographers to drum up entries. Last year the category fell by the wayside when not enough multi-camera entries materialized.
In his acceptance speech, Baum appealed to the Television Academy to keep multi-camera categories alive. He later noted to SHOOT that editors also got their multi-camera recognition back in the Emmy competition this year. Baum hopes that after resurrecting multi-camera categories in 2024, such recognition will be preserved for 2025 and beyond.
A major factor in the decline of multi-camera submissions in 2023 was the move of certain children’s and family programming from the primetime Emmy competition to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ (NATAS) Emmy ceremony. For DPs this meant that multi-camera programs last year were reduced to vying for just one primetime nomination slot in the more general Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour) category. It turned out that this single slot was filled in ‘23 by a Baum-lensed episode of How I Met Your Father (Hulu).
Fast forward to this year’s competition and Baum won for another installment of How I Met Your Father--”Okay Fine, It’s A Hurricane,” which turned out to be the series finale. Two of Baum’s Emmy wins over the years have been for How I Met Your Father, and there’s a certain symmetry to them. His initial win for How I Met Your Father was for the pilot in 2022. So he won Emmys for the very first and last... Read More