Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic “Interstellar” has achieved lift-off.
The highly-anticipated film, starring Matthew McConaughey, earned a starry $1.5 million in limited release on Wednesday.
“Interstellar” opened on Tuesday night in just 249 (including 41 IMAX screens) theaters, where it is playing in traditional film formats (both 35mm and 70mm).
It expands to some 3,500 digital screens (369 of which are IMAX) on Friday, where it will face stiff competition from Disney's “Big Hero 6.”
Disney's animated superhero yarn opens Friday and is tracking quite well. It will in all likelihood top “Interstellar” to win the weekend crown.
Both films should be able to score north of $50 million for the weekend. The last time to films debuted to more then $50 million o the same weekend was June 2013, with “Monsters University” and “World War Z.”
The rest of the weekend 's top five will likely be made up of holdovers “Ouija,” “Nightcrawler,” and “John Wick.”
“Interstellar” also stars Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, David Gyasi and John Lithgow. In addition to its name cast, “Interstellar” is drawing viewers due to Nolan's track record. His “Dark Knight” trilogy earned a combined $2.9 billion worldwide, while “Inception” made $293 million at the domestic box office and over $825 million worldwide.
Look for more box office updates throughout the weekend on HitFix.