'Big Hero 6' rockets past 'Interstellar' at box office with $56.2M debut

"Big Hero 6" blew up at the box office.

Disney's animated adventure "Big Hero 6," featuring the inflatable robot Baymax and his prodigy pal Hiro from the Marvel comic book of the same name, debuted in first place with $56.2 million.

Paramount's space-time saga "Interstellar," starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as astronauts in search of a new home from humankind, launched in second place with $47.5 million.

"Interstellar" fell short of a $50 million debut, which would've marked the fourth time in box office history that a pair of films both opened with $50 million or above. The previous matchups were "Monsters University" vs. "World War Z" in 2013, "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" vs. "Prometheus" in 2012, and "WALL-E" vs. "Wanted" in 2008. In each instance, the animated film came out on top.

___

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:

1. "Big Hero 6," Disney, $56,215,889, 3,761 locations, $14,947 average, $56,215,889, 1 week.

3. "Gone Girl," 20th Century Fox, $6,207,419, 2,224 locations, $2,791 average, $145,535,841, 6 weeks.

4. "Ouija," Universal, $5,870,170, 2,680 locations, $2,190 average, $43,325,255, 3 weeks.

5. "Fury," Sony, $5,628,450, 2,834 locations, $1,986 average, $69,396,679, 4 weeks.

6. "St. Vincent," Weinstein Co., $5,405,967, 2,455 locations, $2,202 average, $27,054,998, 5 weeks.

7. "Nightcrawler," Open Road, $5,373,560, 2,766 locations, $1,943 average, $19,618,437, 2 weeks.

9. ""Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," Disney, $3,539,920, 2,381 locations, $1,487 average, $59,253,290, 5 weeks.

10. "The Book Of Life," 20th Century Fox, $2,754,003, 2,166 locations, $1,271 average, $45,168,928, 4 weeks.

11. "Birdman," Fox Searchlight, $2,311,866, 460 locations, $5,026 average, $8,098,118, 4 weeks.

12. "The Judge," Warner Bros., $1,759,172, 1,215 locations, $1,448 average, $42,568,417, 5 weeks.

13. "The Best Of Me," Relativity Media, $1,402,036, 1,110 locations, $1,263 average, $24,490,377, 4 weeks.

15. "Dracula Untold," Universal, $1,053,770, 830 locations, $1,270 average, $54,908,425, 5 weeks.

16. "The Equalizer," Sony, $915,241, 616 locations, $1,486 average, $98,016,523, 7 weeks.

17. "Annabelle," Warner Bros., $531,176, 630 locations, $843 average, $83,505,687, 6 weeks.

18. "Guardians Of The Galaxy," Disney, $419,918, 296 locations, $1,419 average, $330,009,017, 15 weeks.

19. "Dear White People," Roadside Attractions, $392,412, 177 locations, $2,217 average, $3,527,805, 4 weeks.