INTERSTELLAR OPENS BELOW ESTIMATES

Although Paramount on Sunday had hopefully estimated that Interstellar had opened with $50 million, some analysts wondered at the time whether that figure was conjured up because studio execs realize that Sunday estimates receive more attention in the news media than do the actual figures released on Monday. $50 million certainly had a nice ring to it, and studio execs were well aware of the fact that box office forecasters on Friday were predicting a tight race between Interstellar and Disney’s Big Hero 6. If both films finished with more than $50 million, the pundits pointed out, it would only be the third time in history that such a finish had happened. Alas, it was not to be. Interstellar actually opened with $47.5 million, 5 percent below the studio’s estimate and well below the $56.2 million that Big Hero 6 raked in. Last year over the same weekend, Disney’s Thor: The Dark World opened with $85.7 million and the overall box office was 8.5 percent higher than it was this weekend.