Box Office Weekend Analysis & Recap: 'Big Hero 6' Wins, 'Interstellar' Underperforms
"Big Hero 6" won the box office this past weekend, eclipsing Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated film "Interstellar."
The Disney animated film took home $56.2 million and obtained the second highest opening for an animated film this year. "Big Hero 6's" strong support was due to the strong marketing campaign and the buzz that "Frozen" obtained last year. The flick also obtained great reviews and with strong word of mouth, it will likely play well into the holiday season
"Interstellar" made $50 million over the three-day weekend, which was less than most analysts expected. After five days, the film only made $52 million and opened behind Nolan's "Inception" ($62.8 million) and last year's "Gravity" ($55.8 million). While Nolan's fans made it out to the box office, mixed reviews and a lack of action hurt the film's opening. Additionally, the marketing campaign focused heavily on the science part, which ended up confusing audience members. The visuals also failed to connect with audiences especially after "Inception" and "Gravity." The movie is likely to obtain good word of mouth, which could be good for the overall box office. However, it is unlikely the giant blockbuster will make as much as Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" or even "Inception."
In third place, "Gone Girl" continued to connect with audiences and made another $6.1 million. The Ben Affleck starrer has already made $145 million and is still on board to make over $160 million.
Last weekend's top film, "Ouija," fell 45 percent and made $6 million. The low budget horror flick has now made $43 million in three weekends, which is a success for Universal.
Fifth place saw "St. Vincent" make another $5.7 million and was off 21 percent from last weekend. To date it has made $27 million and became the third art house flick of the year to break the $25 million mark. "Chef" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" were the only other films to pass the $25 million mark. "St. Vincent" will likely continue a successful run and could end with $40 million.
In its second weekend, "Nightcrawler" continued to underperform. The Jake Gyllenhaal starrer only grossed $5.5 million in its second and has now made $19 million. The thriller is likely to end its run below the $30 million mark especially with many more indie films coming into the marketplace in the coming weeks.
In art house cinemas, Fox Searchlight expanded "Birdman" into 231 theaters for a total of 462 venues. However, the movie dropped 3 percent from its previous weekend and made $2.3 million. The drop may signify the limited appeal, but also the competition that it faced this weekend. However, the Alejandro Inarritu directed feature has already made $8 million. Fox Searchlight will continue to expand the feature in the coming week.
Sony Pictures Classics continued to expand the Oscar contender "Whiplash." This weekend the film made $347,000 in 88 theaters. The Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons starrer has now made $1.5 million and will continue to expand throughout awards season.
Opening in limited release Focus Features had the best weekend of its year. "The Theory of Everything" made $207,000 in five theaters. That is equivalent to $41,400 per theater average. It now ranks as the fourth best opening of 2014 behind "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Birdman" and "Boyhood."
The success of the drama was due in part to the rave reviews and the Oscar buzz surrounding it particularly for its stars Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne. Focus Features will expand "The Theory of Everything" in the next weeks.
Radius TWC had mixed results this weekend. While "Citizenfour" continued a successful run, the Daniel Radcliffe starrer "Horns" flopped. "Citizenfour" made $207,800 in 59 theaters and while "Horns" made $7,900 in 22 theaters.