Twilight : New Moon Takes Top Opening Day Box Office Title
Of course as the years move on it isn’t any surprise to see movies steal this title every 6 months. The previous record holder for the highest box office receipts was the Dark Knight. New Moon totaled $72.7 million across the United States and Canada on Friday, a figure that includes record-breaking midnight sales of $26.3 million, said the film’s closely held distributor Summit Entertainment. This was a big step up from Dark Knight, which opened at around $62 Million.
Such heights could be difficult for the “Twilight” sequel to attain. Still, industry observers expect it could finish up with upwards of $125 million for the weekend once Saturday sales data and Sunday estimates are issued early on Sunday. Either way they are taking their cross country movers to the bank.
That would place the film at No. 4 in the record books, behind “The Dark Knight” ($158 million), “Spider-Man 3″ ($151 million), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” ($136 million), and ahead of “Shrek the Third” ($122 million), according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.
The previous record for midnight sales was held by “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which kicked off its run with $22.2 million in sales in July.
The “New Moon” predecessor, “Twilight,” released exactly a year ago, ended up with $193 million in North America after an opening weekend of $70 million.
