New Moon Howls at the Box Office

Posted by Dominic in Latest News on November 22nd, 2009

Well, it worked for Titanic in 1997, so why not The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009? An audience over 80% female, half of whom were under 21, helped propel the second film in the planned four-film Twilight Saga to the third-highest grossing debut of all time behind The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. Moon earned $140.7 million at 4,024 theatres across the country. In comparison, the film’s predecessor, Twilight, debuted this time last year with $69.6 million. Worldwide, New Moon has grossed $258.8 million. For those interested, look for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse to debut June 30 of next year. As for me, I count my lucky vampire bats that my girlfriend couldn’t care less about this series based on Stephanie Meyer’s quartet of novels.

In what may seem like a distant second place, sports-themed The Blind Side opened with $34.5 million for Warner Brothers, setting the record for the highest opening of any sports drama.

Sony’s 2012 slid 59.4% in its second week of release, adding $26.5 million to its domestic gross. As was the case with 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 has boasted a huge showing overseas. The film has grossed $341.1 million in foreign markets, with an astonishing 12-day worldwide total of $449.1 million.

The latest science fiction based animated film, Planet 51, performed below expectations. The Sony release opened with $12.6 million. The other animated film in release, A Christmas Carol, fell three spots and 45.2% to scrooge up $12.2 million. Disney’s motion capture take on the Christmas classic has made $79.7 million in 3 weeks and should be expecting a visit from the Ghost of Forgotten Christmas Movies when the clock chimes four.

Precious saw an 87.4% increase in sales. With $11 million this weekend the Lionsgate picture, with a $10 million budget, has grossed $21.4 million in 3 weeks.

From here the top ten gets quite routine: The Men Who Stare at Goats hit $27.6 million with a weekend take of $2.7 million. Couples Retreat is still hanging around the box office resort with $1.9 million. The Fourth Kind was ninth with $1.7 million. And Law Abiding Citizen followed close behind with $1.6 million. As always, when the studios release final numbers on Tuesday, some of these standings may change. Be sure to check out Box Office Mojo for more details.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.