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‘Twilight’ Ends with a Box Office Bang

Now the fourth film of 2012 to open north of $100 million, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 shot to the number one spot with a gigantic $141.1 million, the second-best debut of the franchise after New Moon’s $142.8 million. 

With that debut, Breaking Dawn Part 2 now joins all Twilight films save the original to post a three-day start greater than $100 million, a feat not matched by any other film series, even the Harry Potter franchise.  Overseas, the finale to the hugely popular series opened to a blistering $199.6 million for an early global tally of $340.6 million. That makes this film by far the saga’s highest international start and legitimately has a shot at grossing a billion dollars.

After its own huge debut last weekend, Skyfall fell by a solid 54 percent to $41.1 million, which is more than Casino Royale made in its first weekend in 2006. Considering the upfront demand, blockbuster nature and bigger-than-expected opening, a fall by just a half is impressive. Comparatively, Quantum of Solace tumbled by 61 percent in weekend two. 

With a domestic tally now at $160.9 million (and a global one at a smoldering $668.8 million), Skyfall has virtually matched the final grosses of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and should find its way to $250 million in North America. That would make it the fourth-highest grossing entry when accounting for inflation. 

The Top 10 

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 - $141.1M (weekend)…$141.1M (gross)
2. Skyfall – $41.1M…$160.9M
3. Lincoln – $21.1M…$21.1M
4. Wreck-It Ralph – 13.6M…$121.7M
5. Flight – 8.8M…$61.5M
6. Argo – $4.0M…$91.9M
7. Taken 2 – $2.1M…$134.7M
8. Jab Tak Hai Jaan - $1.3M…$1.3M
9. Pitch Perfect – $1.3M…$61.1M
10. Here Comes the Boom – $1.2M…$40.9M 

Impressing in third was historical biopic Lincoln, which despite a theater count of just 1,774, debuted to $21.1 million. Like Flight two weeks ago, it’s clear there is high demand for older-skewing dramas, especially those with awards buzz. Being touted as a sure-fire Oscar winner and with the likelihood of more theaters being added, the road ahead is bright for the Spielberg epic. 

Platforming in 16 theaters, Silver Linings Playbook snagged $443,003 for a strong $27,688 per-theater average ahead of what will be a slower nationwide rollout. Its crowd-pleasing nature and awards buzz should also propel this dramedy to strong final numbers. 

The combination of Twilight and strong holdovers thrust this weekend to the second best aggregated weekend of the year (behind just that ruled by The Avengers) and the sixth best of all time. 

Things won’t cool much over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend as three new films enter the market, lead by Rise of the Guardians from DreamWorks in 3,500 locations, which should play well considering its Holiday angle. Also on the docket is Ang Lee’s Life of Pi which (not to sound like a broken record) is also getting some awards love and the long-delayed Red Dawn remake. Both will land in about 2,700 theaters.

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