The Weekend Report

The weekend was expected to be highly competitive between the spaced-out Interstellar and the cuddly animated robot of Big Hero 6. When the dust cleared the tilt went friendly with BH6 grossing an estimated $56 million and the sci-fi eye-popper close behind with $48.3 million. The two films accounted for roughly 66% of the session’s box office. Similarly, it was dreare among the new exclusive with the notable exception being the Stephen Hawking origin story The Theory of Everything with a potent $206,000 box office from five screens.

In the niches it was another lap around the circuit (albeit four decades on) for the motorcycle bible On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter that crossed the finish line with $363,000. New imports from India were largely moribund save for the Punjabi Chaar Sahibzaade that grossed $123,000 at 24 sites and the critically-auded elder romance Elsa & Fred had a disappointing $61,700 tally from 34 engagements.

Session revenues expanded upward to roughly $160 million and a bouncy 65% rise from seven days back. It was nonetheless a 7% decline from 2013 when the opening of Thor: The Dark World led with $85.7 million.

There was little doubt that on the cusp of Thanksgiving movie going would benefit from a couple of highly anticipated films; particularly if they appealed to different sectors of the audience. The family-centric Big Hero 6 appeared to have a slight edge and indeed that proved correct. The only question that remained was how lofty would the films fly. Pundits put the ceiling at around $60 million.

Studio exits pegged the big galoot crowd evenly split between the sexes and 72% identified as families. It was 58% comprised of folk aged 25-years and younger. The film is already in its third week in Russia and added 15 international territories including India and Indonesia for an estimated weekend gross of $7.6 million.

Interstellar received the full court press but critical response was mixed and there was decided anxiety about its near three hour running time. The film got a weekend head start with large screen engagements only that rendered about $2.1 million on Wednesday and Thursday and the desire to see it in its FULL glory was palpable with 36% of its box office coming from those screens.

The film’s orbit was 52% male with 75% of viewers aged 25-years and older.

It was not unexpected that the initial Interstellar international response would supersede the domestic box office and weekend estimates for its 62 territory launch are expected to be $80 million. It opened in all major arenas except China and Japan with Imax engagements accounting for roughly 9% of its box office.

The frame also featured an expansion for Birdman that maintained the picture’s momentum. Laggies also added screens but failed to clear the next platform hurdle.

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