Print NEW MOON Howls In 1st

After weeks of ruling the Fandango’s “most anticipated upcoming releases”, it was time for Summit Entertainment to unleash their Twilight sequel, New Moon, into theaters. And what a weekend it was for the little distributor that could (and did) both in the domestic and foreign races. They began with a bang, scoring $26.2 million just off its midnight premiere showings on early Friday morning. The early showings across the nation had it pulling past the previous midnight record holders Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($22.2 million) and The Dark Knight ($18.4 mil).

With that record in Summit’s books, the next one within their sights was the $67.2 million opening day record held by 2008's The Dark Knight. And yes, they achieved that too, with New Moon howling up $72.7 million on Friday, which means the sequel scored more money in one day than the first Twilight pulled in on its entire first weekend ($69.6 million).

So, with the Twilight sequel taking down two records after its first day of release, the question remained on whether it could take down that last major one. Could the film capture the amazing $158.4 million opening weekend title held by The Dark Knight? Could it take the 2^nd place spot by overcoming Spider-Man 3’s $151.1 million?

It fell short to both comic properties but still finished with an incredible $140.7 million for its first three days of domestic release, the third best opening weekend of all-time. The film also dominated the foreign distribution over the weekend by grabbing another $118.1 million from 6,681 screens in a relatively contained opening break comprising 25 territories.

Overall, it must have been a very tiring weekend for theater chains (and their employees) across the nation. There were three movies that averaged over $10,000 per showing and the top 6 films all scored at least double-digit numbers, with the 1^st place spot obviously taking in triple-digits.

Warner Bros. saw the successful launch of their football tale, The Blind Side. The film, which is another successful notch for Sandra Bullock in 2009 behind the summer hit The Proposal, debuted in 3,110 theaters across the nation and found $34.5 million for the 2^nd place spot.

Sony Pictures took home the 3^rd and 4^th place spots with their two releases, 2012 and Planet 51. The latest Roland Emmerich-helmed disaster flick took home another $26.5 million in its second weekend of release. The latest numbers increases their domestic gross to $108.2 million after ten days of distribution. Sony’s latest animation, Planet 51, followed behind in 4^th by grabbing an estimated $12.6 million in 3,035 theaters.

Rank	Movie	Weekend	Theaters	Average	Total	Budget
1	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	$140.7 mil	4,024	$34,965	$140.7 mil	----
2	The Blind Side	$34.5 mil	3,110	$11,096	$34.5 mil	----
3	2012	$26.5 mil	3,408	$7,776	$108.2 mil	$200
4	Planet 51	$12.6 mil	3,035	$4,152	$12.6 mil	----
5	A Christmas Carol	$12.2 mil	3,578	$3,418	$79.7 mil	$200
6	Precious: Based on the Novel “Push”	$11.0 mil	629	$17.501	$21.4 mil	$10
7	The Men Who Stare at Goats	$2.7 mil	2,056	$1,349	$27.6 mil	$25
8	Couples Retreat	$1.9 mil	1,712	$1,140	$105.0 mil	$70
9	The Fourth Kind	$1.7 mil	1,648	$1,050	$23.3 mil	----
10	Law Abiding Citizen	$1.6 mil	1,327	$1,217	$70.0 mil	$50

It seems very likely that we’ll be discussing New Moon again next weekend but the Thanksgiving holidays is all about the family so we could see some surprises out of the wide launches of Old Dogs and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

And Ninja Assassin will likely take home some respectable cash from the young crowd but its 2,500 screens isn’t likely to help it contend for a top spot.

NEW MOON Howls In 1st (Mania.com)