Space thriller “Gravity” rewrote record books by earning an astounding $55.56 million during its opening weekend at the box office. In the process, the science-fiction drama also gave the biggest openings ever for Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The October record created by the 3D thriller also pushed last week’s topper “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” to the second spot.

Director Alfonso Cuaron, who is also the co-writer of the space film, seems to be on cloud nine, offering film lovers a movie that’s totally dedicated to space. The story revolves around two astronauts, who come across a host of challenges during a spacewalk. The visual effects of “Gravity” have already become the talk of the town, and those who haven’t seen the film yet realize that they can’t miss it.

Record Breaking Figures

The massive amount of $55.56 million generated by the space thriller has been realized from as many as 3,575 theaters, and works out to an incredible $15,538 for every theater. The huge collection registered by the sensational film incidentally is also the highest so far for October during any given year. “Gravity” displaces “Paranormal Activity 3” from the top slot as far as October’s earnings are concerned. The earlier record set by that film in 2011 stood at $52.6 million.

The lead stars of “Gravity,” Bullock and Clooney, are also quite delighted to see that their previous records being rewritten. While “The Heat” happened to be Bullock’s previous best with a box office earning of $39.1 million, it was “Batman & Robin” that remained the best for Clooney with a collection of $42.9 million.

Harry Potter Heritage

The 90-minute start-to-finish entertainer is produced by David Heyman, who is widely remembered the world over for setting new records with the “Harry Potter” films earlier. Receiving an A CinemaScore from the audience, the $100 million Warner Bros. movie has shot up an astonishing 31 percent in ticket sales on Saturday. On the global level, “Gravity” has managed to earn $27.4 million from 27 markets.

3D screens accounted for 70 and 80 percent of ticket sales at the domestic and international level respectively. The exciting space movie earned $11.3 million by opening on 323 IMAX screens domestically, whereas it hit 89 IMAX screens internationally to net $3.2 million during the weekend.

Commenting on Gravity’s rocketing performance, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, Dan Fellman says the credit must go to Cuaron for taking the viewers to orbit for a full 90 minutes. Noting that such a space thriller has never been shot in history, Fellman describes the space shots as “mind-boggling.” “It looks like you’re there,” he adds.

While “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”, earning $21.5 million, slipped to the second place, 20th Century Fox’s production “Runner Runner”, starring Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton and Anthony Meckie, takes the third spot with a collection of $7.6 million coming from a little more than 3,000 theaters. In the fourth position is Warner Bros.’ “Prisoners,” managing only $5.7 million. Making it to the fifth place is Ron Howard’s “Rush” with $4.8 million earnings.