Going into the weekend, all box office experts knew that 'Twilight: New Moon' would dominate all holdovers and newcomers, but what they couldn't predict was the amount the vampire flick would take in.
With a haul of $140 million, the sequel to 'Twilight' not only crushed all competitors, but also became the third biggest opening weekend ever behind last year's 'The Dark Knight,' ($158 million) and 2007's 'Spider-Man 3,' which brought in $151 million.
Interested enough, the two films mentioned were summer films when kids are out of school. 'New Moon' is a fall release. The film also did well overseas with an estimated take of $118.1M, thus having a worldwide profit of $258.8M.
Much of the hoopla over the film as to do the ever growing popularity of the franchise, which is based on the novels written by Stephenie Meyer, and the fascination fans have over its leading stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and newly buffed Taylor Lautner.
The good thing about 'New Moon' taking over many theaters is that the spillover of sold out shows helped Sandra Bullock's latest film, 'The Blind Side,' bring in more than many expected. The story of football player Michael Oher, in which Bullock's character helps him overcome poverty and learning disabilities, brought in $34.5 million. It was her third of the year ('The Proposal,' 'All About Steve') and biggest opening of her film career.
Dropping to third place was last week's Number One film, '2012,' which took in $26.5 million and has a total of $108 million. The latest animated film, 'Planet 51,' that features the voices of Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, and Justin Long came in fourth place with $12.6 million. Slight below that film to round out the top five was another animated film, 'Disney's A Christmas Carol' with $12.2 million.
Expanding to 629 theaters this past weekend and grossing $11 million was the Lee Daniels' critically acclaimed film, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire.' The film, which stars Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton and newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe has grossed over $21 million thus far
