Weekend Estimates: Big Hero Tops Interstellar

November 9, 2014

Big Hero 6 poster

With studios cutting down on tentpole releases, and ever-more careful grooming of release schedules, it’s getting rarer to have a genuine head-to-head battle for top spot at the box office. But that’s exactly what we had this weekend, and, although both studios will rightly claim to be very happy with the outcome, execs at Disney will have the slightly bigger grins this Sunday. They are predicting a $56.2 million opening weekend for Big Hero 6, making it a clear winner over Interstellar, which Paramount says will post a round $50 million.

Both figures are impressive, although there’s a good chance that we won’t see both films getting over $50 million for the weekend, as many were expecting. Interstellar will need a very good day Sunday to reach that figure, although Paramount is clearly hopeful that the movie will pull it off. Word of mouth also seems likely to be good for both pictures, with Big Hero 6 having the edge in that regard too.

The two behemoths didn’t leave much room for other films this weekend, but a couple of films in the top 10 continue to show good legs. Gone Girl moves back to third place, and is down just 28% from last weekend. It has now cumed $145 million. St. Vincent will fall 21% to $5.7 million, for a total of $27.4 million, and moves up to fifth place.

Just outside the top 10, Birdman will be down 4% after doubling its location count to 462 theaters. Its nearly-$5,000 theater average supports some further expansion.

The standout film in limited release this weekend is The Theory of Everything. The Stephen Hawking biopic, starring Eddie Redmayne, is expected to earn $207,000 from five locations for a stellar average of $41,400.

- Weekend Estimates

Bruce Nash bruce.nash@the-numbers.com

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, St. Vincent, Interstellar, Big Hero 6, Gone Girl, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Eddie Redmayne