To be totally clear, no one involved is complaining after a $132 million first weekend at the worldwide box office for Christopher Nolan‘s space epic “Interstellar.”
But the sci-fi tale starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway couldn’t beat Disney Animation’s “Big Hero 6” at the domestic box office, and Paramount Pictures had to be aggressive in its projections for Sunday to get its weekend estimate to $50 million.
That’s obviously a good launch, but it’s a little under the expectations of Paramount and most analysts. The studio’s marketing campaign had raised awareness to a fever pitch, and with the buzz that turns all of Nolan’s films into events, it was hard for some not to feel a little underwhelmed.