The Twilight Saga: New Moon sank its teeth into box-office analysts who had predicted that the movie would earn $70-90 million over the weekend. A few had wildly predicted that it would cross the $100-
million mark. In the end, it did so easily and flew off with an estimated $140.7 million, the most any movie had ever earned over a three-day weekend with the exception of The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3 (both released during the lucrative summertime period.) The Los Angeles Times called the figure "mind-bending." But even employees of Summit Entertainment, which produced the movie, were surprised. Distribution chief Richie Fay told Us Weekly: "I dare say in all the office pools, I don't think anyone had near this top gross." (In fact, the total could go higher. For unexplained reasons, Summit appeared to lowball its estimate for Sunday. The $140.7 million figure was based on actual results for Friday and Saturday and an educated guess as to how the film would perform on Sunday). The result challenged conventional wisdom in Hollywood that teenage boys control the box office. New Moon's audience was overwhelmingly female, and more than half were adults. Overseas, New Moon grossed $118.1 million, bringing its worldwide total to about $258 million. Also performing far above expectations was the sports drama The Blind Side, which earned $34.5 million in its opening. And, as it expanded to 629 theaters, Precious grossed more than $11 million, an astounding average of $17,500 per screen. But the animated Planet 51 disappointed with a fourth-place $12.6-million opening.
UPDATE: Final total for New Moon: $142,839,137.
Monday, November 23, 2009
SUMMIT OVER THE MOON ON “TWILIGHT” RESULTS
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The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $140.7 million; 2. The Blind Side, $34.5 million; 3. 2012, $26.5 million; 4. Planet 51, $12.6 million; 5. Disney's A Christmas Carol, $12.2 million; 6. Precious, $11 million; 7. The Men Who Stare at Goats, $2.8 million; 8. Couples Retreat, $2 million; 9. The Fourth Kind, $1.7 million; 10. Law Abiding Citizen, $1.6 million.
