Weekly Box Office Results: New Moon Takes a Big Bite Out of the Box Office
November 24th, 2009Categories: Box Office Results, Paul S. White
Expectations were definitely high for the opening weekend of the sequel to Twilight, but New Moon more than surpassed its early projections. The movie pulled in $143 million domestically for its first weekend making it the third highest opening in Box Office history after The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. It also set an opening day record for Friday with $73 million plus the $26 million in midnight showings. On top of that, the movie also pulled in $132 million overseas, bringing its grand total over three days to an astounding $275 million. As expected, the audience was overwhelmingly female (80%) and drew a younger crowd (50%). Expect to see this franchise stay alive on the big screen for several more years.
The animated sci fi comedy Planet 51 also opened this weekend, though its numbers were much more down to Earth. That movie brought in $12.3 million and it landed in the Number 4 slot on the charts. Disaster flick 2012 dropped from the Number 1 slot it held last weekend to Number 3, though that movie has already tallied $456 million in receipts globally. And A Christmas Carol dropped from the Number 2 slot to Number 5 this week. On their way out of the Top 20 this week are The Box (Number 17) and Astro Boy (Number 19), neither of which looks like they will recoup their budget at the Box Office.
Following are the results for all of the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies in the Top 20 for the weekend of November 20-22:
Title / Box Office Rank (Rank Prior Week) / Weekend Draw (Total)
1) The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Prior Wk: New, Draw (Total): $142.84 MM ($142.84 MM)
3) 2012 – Prior Wk: 1, Draw (Total): $26.41 MM ($108.13 MM)
4) Planet 51 – Prior Wk: New, Draw (Total): $12.29 MM ($12.29 MM)
5) A Christmas Carol (2009) – Prior Wk: 2, Draw (Total): $12.28 MM ($79.84 MM)
7) The Men Who Stare at Goats – Prior Wk: 4, Draw (Total): $2.83 MM ($27.68 MM)
9) The Fourth Kind – Prior Wk: 6, Draw (Total): $1.75 MM ($23.36 MM)
13) Paranormal Activity – Prior Wk: 8, Draw (Total): $1.4 MM ($106.08 MM)
15) Where the Wild Things Are – Prior Wk: 12, Draw (Total): $.69 MM ($74.67 MM)
17) The Box – Prior Wk: 10, Draw (Total): $.49 MM ($14.5 MM)
19) Astro Boy – Prior Wk: 13, Draw (Total): $.41 MM ($18.62 MM)
Source: Box Office Mojo
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