Although Christopher Nolan's “Interstellar” edged out Disney's animated film “Big Hero 6” for the top spot at the Friday box office, kids and families will reverse the standings by the end of the weekend.
“Interstellar,” which stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, soared to $17 million on Friday, after opening in limited release on Wednesday night. Its domestic total currently stands at $19.1 million, but it should gross around $53 million or so for the regular weekend.
“Big Hero” scored a sizable $15.8 million of its own on Friday, and will likely muscle its way to a debut weekend total in the $55 million range. It's Disney Animation Studios' third hit in a row, following “Frozen” and “Wreck-It Ralph.”
“Interstellar's” opening figures won't come anywhere near the $160 million that Nolan's “Dark Knight Rises” debuted to in 2012. It is, however, perfectly aligned with last year's similarly-themed “Gravity,” which opened to $55 million and went on to gross $274 million domestically.
This weekend will also mark a rare occurrence where two films opened north of $50 million in the same weekend.
The low-budget horror film “Ouija” scared up another $1.9 million, bringing its domestic total to a tasty $39.3 million.
“Gone Girl” is still finding movie at the box office, earning another $1.8 million on Friday. The Ben Affleck- Rosamund Pike drama has earned $141.1 million, making it director David Fincher's biggest hit.
Rounding out the top five was the Jake Gyllenhaal film “Nightcrawler,” which made off with $1.6 million. Its made $15.9 million so far domestically.
Look for complete weekend estimates Sunday on HitFix.