While some critics have unfavourably compared Interstellar with Gravity, Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi odyssey has opened rather bigger than Alfonso Cuarón’s deep space thriller.
Interstellar grabbed nearly $4.2 million last weekend, compared with Gravity’s $3.55 million. The opening is even more meritorious considering Nolan’s $165 million epic runs 169 minutes and is thus playing on fewer sessions than Cuarón’s 91 minute opus.
The big test for the Matthew McConaughey/Anne Hathaway / Jessica Chastain starrer will come in the next few weeks when we will know if it can match the staying power of Gravity, which finished up with an impressive $22.1 million.
Still, the saga of astronauts who go searching for a wormhole near Saturn which may serve as a gateway to another galaxy isn’t in the league of Nolan’s Inception, which raked in $7.4 million in its first weekend in 2010 and wound up with $35.7 million.
In the US Interstellar launched with $US49.6 million in four days, beaten by Disney’s 3D animated superhero action/comedy Big Hero 6’s $56.2 million. The studio’s first adaptation of a Marvel comic set in a futuristic, Asian-fusion melting pot called San Fransokyo, it will debut here on Boxing Day. Internationally Interstellar hauled in a nifty $80 million.
Weekend takings improved by 9% to $9.85 million, according to Rentrak, as year-to-data grosses reached $908.9 million, down 2% on 2013. Gone Girl stayed strong, climbing to $23.5 million after earning $1.1 million in its sixth outing.
Love, Rosie, a rom-com starring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin as friends since childhood who may or may not hook up, entered with a mediocre $497,000 on 159 screens and $512,000 with previews.
Word-of-mouth kicked in for Pride, the comedy-drama based on the true story of the gay Londoners who rallied to support Welsh miners in their confrontation with Margaret Thatcher in 1984, generating $456,000 in its second weekend (off just 13%), bringing the total to $1.3 million.
The Vatican Museums 3D, which showcases the masterpieces in the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, drew a respectable $158,000 at 54 screens and will be extended for a second weekend.
Chaar Sahibzaade, a Punjabi 3D animated movie which tells of four brothers, the sons of the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, who take on the Mughal Empire and sacrificed their lives while fighting for freedom, fetched a fine $141,000 at 20 locations.
The critics raved about Two Days, One Night, Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s drama starring Marion Cotillard as a factory worker whose boss forces her 16 co-workers to vote on whether she should be laid off with the bribe of a bonus. But audiences were less enthused judging by the $58,000 debut on 15 screens and $113,000 with festival screenings.
Critical acclaim did not pay off either for Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s documentary about a reclusive nanny who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that were hidden in storage lockers and discovered decades later, which took $34,000 at nine cinemas.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE Nov 6-9
|
|
Title |
Week/ Screens |
Box Office |
% +- |
Total
|
|
1 |
Interstellar |
1/548 |
$4,191,773 |
NA |
$4,191,773 |
|
2 |
Gone Girl |
6/325 |
1,072,697 |
-38 |
23,517,796 |
|
3 |
Fury |
3/302 |
1,012,832 |
-47 |
7,191,374 |
|
4 |
John Wick |
2/177 |
617,179 |
-44 |
2,142,466 |
|
5 |
Love, Rosie |
1/159 |
497,175 |
NA |
511,640 |
|
6 |
Pride |
2/145 |
455,670 |
-13 |
1,291,658 |
|
7 |
The Best of Me |
2/223 |
411,418 |
-46 |
1,656,176 |
|
8 |
This Is Where I Leave You |
3/196 |
197,148 |
-63 |
2,182,032 |
|
9 |
The Vatican Museums 3D |
1/54 |
157,650 |
NA |
157,650 |
|
10 |
Chaar Sahibzaade
|
1/20 |
141,387 |
NA |
141,387 |
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia