‘New Moon’ Wins Weekend, Falls Short Of Record

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” raked in $140.7 million (estimated) on its opening weekend. While the vampires and werewolves made a good run at the Batman, the final tally fell a little short: “The Dark Knight” held on to the title for highest opening weekend gross ($158 million), while “New Moon” did grab the highest opening day record with the $74 million earned on Friday.

The $140.7 million is the third-highest opening weekend in history, with “Spider-Man 3″ sitting in second place with $151.1 million.

The “Twilight” fan base’s rush to purchase the first-day tickets, selling out many of its screenings at midnight and in the later showings on Friday, boosted the initial sales, but the momentum waned as the weekend progressed.

Without “New Moon” hogging the headlines, Sandra Bullock’s “The Blind Side” would be the big story, with a better-than-projected $34.5 million opening weekend (good enough for second place). The family-oriented 3D CG flick “Planet 51″ came in fourth on the weekend with $12.6 million, behind last week’s winner “2012″ ($26.5 million).

The per-screen average winner for the weekend was “Broken Embraces,” the new film from Pedro Almodovar, earning an estimated $54,000 at each of its two screens. “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” was close behind with $49,000 at each of its four screens, while “New Moon” brought in an average of $34,965 on the 4,024 screens it opened in.

Here’s the Top Five, from BoxOfficeMojo.com:

WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES, NOVEMBER 20-22, 2009

Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment)
$140.7 million | 4,024 | $140.7 million | 1

2. The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
$34.5 million | 3,110 | $34.5 million | 1

3. 2012 (Sony / Columbia)
$26.5 million | 3,408 | $108.2 million | 2

4. Planet 51 (Sony / Columbia)
$12.6 million | 3,035 | $12.6 million | 1

5. A Christmas Carol (2009) (Buena Vista)
$12.2 million | 3,578 | $79.8 million | 3