Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar nabbed one of the final Hollywood slots in China this year, bowing on Wednesday in the Middle Kingdom. Warner Bros is reporting a Day One $ 5.4M lift-off for the sci-fi space oddysey there. After an $ 89.2M international weekend in its debut frame, and a total $ 16.2M on Wednesday, the overseas cume is now $ 121.1M. In local currency, the China gross was worth 33.3M yuan on 7,742 screens, giving Nolan his biggest opening in the market ever — helpfully, Nolan and stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway visited Shanghai this week. The performance beat Inception‘s 12M yuan and The Dark Knight Rises‘ 28.3M. (Inception currently holds the title of Nolan’s top ultimate grosser in the Middle Kingdom.) Notably, Interstellar also exerted more pull than Warner Bros’ own Gravity when it bowed to 28.8M yuan around the same time last year. Gravity went on to take about $ 71M in the market.
Interstellar will face competition in the Middle Kingdom this frame when the Penguins Of Madagascar waddle in today. This is the first play for the DreamWorks Animation spin-off which begins its rollout elsewhere on November 26. While Interstellar has the IMAX screens, Penguins is in 3D, a big draw for Chinese audiences, and DreamWorks films are consistently strong performers in the market with a slightly different demo. Numbers should be high on both movies, but there are some formidable local pictures in the mix including new entry, Johnnie To’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2, which opened on Tuesday to about $ 7M.
Elsewhere, Interstellar continued its global trajectory at the top of the box office. In Korea, it added $ 2.3M on Wednesday on 1,209 screens after opening to a fantastic $ 14.4M last weekend. The cume there is now $ 20.1M. Korea, which was Inception‘s 5th biggest market, is shaping up to be Interstellar‘s 2nd.
The UK added $ 1.6M on Wednesday from 1,298 screens for a $ 12.4M cume to date. The film should continue to play here with no major wide releases this weekend, although given the local elements, The Imitation Game could stir up some competition.
Russia stacked up another $ 898K from 1,800 screens, maintaining roughly 63% of the market throughout the week. The total through Wednesday is $ 11.6M.
Spain grossed $ 537k from 555 screens, holding a 69% share of the Top 5. The Spanish total is now $ 3.7M. (That’s impressive given that in the country’s 3rd biggest city, Valencia, I saw almost no advertising for the movie over the course of five days last week.) Spain welcomes wide international release Dumb And Dumber To this frame.
Italy brought in $ 475K from 580 Interstellar screens, with a 39% share of the Top 5 and good for $ 4.9M to date. Germany grossed $ 455K from 718 screens, sustaining a 70% share of the Top 5 throughout the week for a cume of $ 6M. In Germany this weekend, competition can be expected from Dumb And Dumber To, as well as Die Mannschaft, a feature documentary about the World Cup winning German team of 2014.
In other markets, Interstellar took $ 403K on 548 Australian screens, with a Top 5 market share of 56% and a $ 5M cume. France grossed $ 376K from 745 screens. The film is still No. 1 with an estimated 44% share of the Top 5, and a cume of $ 9.1M. However, a local cop drama starring Guillaume Canet, La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai Le Coeur (Next Time, I’ll Aim For The Heart), had a strong debut on its first day Wednesday. France was Inception‘s 4th biggest overseas play in 2010.
Interstellar grossed $ 325K on 1,746 screens in Mexico, holding 42% of the Top 5 market share for a cume of $ 4M. Finally, Brazil notched up another $ 195K on 421 screens, with 29% of the Top 5 films. The cume after Wednesday is $ 2.4M. Dumb And Dumber To heads to both of those markets this weekend.
Nancy Tartaglione
