Posted by Adam

Sunday November 22, 2009

THE folks at Summit Entertainment must be rubbing their hands together!

The Twilight Saga: New Moon — which stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner — has had the third-biggest opening weekend in film history.

The Twilight sequel grossed a whopping $140.7 million during its first weekend in theaters — earning $72.7 million on its Friday opening day alone, according to box office totals released Sunday.

“I dare say in all the office pools, I don’t think anyone had near this top gross,” Summit distribution president Richie Fay said.

New Moon also holds the record for most advance ticket sales. A reported 80% of all ticket buyers were women, according to the totals.

The Dark Knight, which stars the late Heath Ledger, remains the top-grossing weekend box office earner, taking in $158.4 million during its first outing in 2008. Spider-Man 3 stays in second place, earning $151.1 million out of the gate in 2007.

New Moon‘s opening weekend even trounced Twilight‘s box office totals. The first film in the vampire franchise earned $36 million on Nov. 21, 2008 and posted a three-day weekend take of $69.6 million.

Tags: twilight