The Twilight Saga: New Moon literally stormed the box office over the weekend, earning $140.7 million. The impressive receipts made the film the third biggest weekend opener in history, behind The Dark Knight, with $158 million, and Spider-Man 3, which earned $151 million.
The second most-viewed film of the weekend was The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock. With just $34.5 million earned, the biopic was no competition for the vampire drama. The top ranked film of last week, 2012, dropped to third place this week, taking in $26.5 million. Last week, the same film earned $65.2 million.
The family-friendly animated flick, Planet 51, earned $12.6 million. Disney’s A Christmas Carol rounded out the top five with $12.2 million, taking its total earnings up to $80 million in three weeks.
The success of New Moon is particularly interesting, given that it wasn’t released during the summer holidays. However, its opening day numbers paled in comparison to The Dark Knight on opening day. New Moon brought in $26.3 million on day one, while The Dark Knight frenzy resulted in $72.7 million on opening day.
Twilight, the first film of the vampire franchise, has earned $383 million worldwide.