Twilight Saga: New Moon Sets Midnight Opening Box Office Record
Steve Barton
|
It’s finally here — the opening weekend of The Twilight Saga: New Moon (review here), and it’s already shattering box office records. Reports are that New Moon set a new high for opening midnight show grosses with an estimated $26.27 million playing at 3,514 theaters for a per theater average of $7,476.
The numbers are courtesy of Fandango, which sold nearly 30% of Thursday night’s estimated domestic box office for the film and also said that New Moon ticket sales show no signs of tapering off this weekend, as the latest Twilight movie is trending to sell more than 10 tickets per second throughout the course of the day.
New Moon‘s midnight receipts topped previous record holder Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by in excess of $4 million. “This massive fan response portends an opening weekend that could be one of the biggest of the year and reflects the fervor and excitement surrounding this follow-up to last year’s ‘Twilight’,” Paul Dergarabedian, head of Hollywood.com’s box office tracking division, said in a statement published by Reuters. Expectations are for the film to take in around $100 million when all is said and done this weekend, including the midnight grosses.
As we did back when Twilight was released, we’ll have Morgan’s counterpoint to Nomad’s review of the film later in the day so be sure to check back.
In the meantime, if you’re not a fan of the Saga but are being dragged to the theatre by a friend or loved one who is, click here for a pretty amusing list of Things To Do in the Theatre While Your Girl is Watching Twilight: New Moon. Following are a couple of my personal favorites:
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Predict New Moon‘s opening weekend receipts below or in the Dread Central forums.
Categorized:Uncategorized
