Film poster for Interstellar. [Photo/movie.mtime.com]

"Interstellar" took 258 million yuan ($42.04 million) in China in the week ending Nov 23, grossing a total of 527.5 million yuan and making it director Christopher Nolan's biggest grosser in the world's second-largest film market.

Nolan previously had two of his films, "Inception" and "The Dark Knight Rises" shown in China, which earned 457 million yuan and 346 million yuan respectively.

The sci-fi epic continued Chinese audience's love for space exploration movies after last year's "Gravity," which was sympathetic to China's recent space program.

Dream Works Animation's "Penguins of Madagascar" came in second, taking 77 million yuan for the week and bringing its total to 148.5 million yuan.

"Rise of the Legend," a film about China's martial artist and folk hero Wong Fei-hung, came in third with 76 million yuan. "Fury," starring Brad Pitt, made 45 million yuan in its opening three days to come in fourth.

Rounding out the top five list was Johnnie To's romantic sequel "Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2." It took 43 million yuan for a total of 186 million yuan.