Box office: ‘Interstellar’ launches ticket sales to the cosmos Friday

It’s space travel vs. robots at this weekend’s box office, and so far, the astronauts are winning.

Director Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is off to a strong start, earning an estimated $17 million in ticket sales at the box office Friday. The sci-fi picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway follows pioneering astronauts as they search for inhabitable worlds beyond our own blighted planet.

Co-financed by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the picture had grossed about $4.9 million through Thursday, which includes nearly $1.4 million from Tuesday evening through Wednesday at select locations.

Disney’s animated sci-fi family film, “Big Hero 6,” opened wide Friday at $15.83 million but is expected to surpass “Interstellar” over the weekend. The action-comedy, about a robotics genius and his unconventional creation, cost about $165 million to make and is expected to take in about $60 million in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday.

Based on a Marvel comic, the film was directed by Disney veterans Don Hall (“Winnie the Pooh”) and Chris Williams (“Bolt”). It grossed a studio-estimated $1.4 million in ticket sales from preview shows on Thursday.

That’s more than the $1.2 million Disney’s computer-animated musical “Frozen” unlocked from Tuesday previews ahead its pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday opening last year.

Universal’s creepy “Ouija” scared an estimated $1.9 million out of audiences Friday, besting director Dan Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler,” which earned a little over $1.69 million. Fox’s “Gone Girl” came in at around $1.86 million, according to boxofficemojo.com.

Twitter: @LorraineAli