Weekend Report: Fading ‘New Moon’ Eclipses ‘Twilight,’ ‘Blind Side’ Surges
by Brandon Gray --- November 29, 2009
The Twilight Saga: New Moon collapsed in its second weekend, as expected after the fan frenzy of its first weekend, but still narrowly led Thanksgiving weekend with an estimated $42.5 million for a whopping $230.7 million total in ten days. Due to the relatively modest new releases, the Top Three remained the same with the ascendant The Blind Side in second and descendant 2012 in third. All told, it was the highest-grossing Thanksgiving on record at around $185 million, although it wasn't nearly as special in terms of estimated attendance, ranking ninth.
Running on the sheer momentum of its massive opening, New Moon soared past the $200 million mark on its eighth day of release and, in the process, eclipsed predecessor Twilight, which had a final haul of $192.8 million. That, of course, also made it the biggest vampire movie on record, but it did fall 70 percent, the steepest second weekend Thanksgiving drop ever surpassing Twilight's 62 percent, and it was the first movie in history to shed $100 million from one weekend to the next. The first Twilight, though, regained its bearings later in its run, ultimately holding up well for its genre.
