Imax announced that Paramount Pictures’ and Warner Bros. Pictures’ release of writer-director Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar blasted into Imax theatres in record-setting fashion, grossing $20.5 million from 574 Imax locations worldwide. Domestically, Interstellar scored $13.2 million in 368 Imax theatres, which equates to approximately $35,900 per screen; internationally, the film earned $7.3 million in 206 Imax theatres, for a per-screen average of more than $35,400.
In North America, 19 of the top 20 locations for Interstellar were Imax screens, helping to drive the largest-ever box office percentage for a first-run Imax release domestically, with approximately one-quarter of the box office coming from Imax.
In total, the worldwide opening weekend box office for Interstellar in Imax surpassed the company’s previous November global opening record of $17.1 million.
Internationally, Interstellar now ranks first among all Imax 2D openings, as well as first for a November release in Imax. The film saw exceptional results in Imax territories including Germany ($40,000/screen), France ($43,000/screen), the U.K. ($45,000/screen), Singapore ($65,000/screen), Australia ($72,000/screen) and South Korea, where the film scored $76,000 per screen, on pace to secure the territory’s highest opening ever in IMAX. Weekend results did not include China, where the film is set to open later this week on 170 Imax screens.
“Interstellar is the ideal movie for Imax and fits squarely within our wheelhouse – it’s a movie about space, by one of the world’s finest filmmakers with whom we’ve partnered successfully over the past decade and features over an hour of footage specifically filmed with Imax cameras – all combining to deliver an experience you can’t replicate anywhere else,” said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, Imax Corp. and CEO of Imax Entertainment. “Globally, Imax screens continue to play to sold-out crowds and we expect strong word-of-mouth to propel Interstellar well into the holiday season. With huge thanks to Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and our partners at Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures for their support and collaboration, we are extremely excited that Interstellar has launched with record-setting results.”
In a successful run-up to the film’s nationwide domestic launch on 7th November, Paramount Pictures released Interstellar two days early at 42 North American Imax film-based locations, where the film grossed $1.2 million, with a per-screen average of more than $28,500. The international IMAX roll-out of Interstellar began on 6th November.