SUNDAY AM: Summit Entertainment’s low cost blockbuster Twilight opened huge as expected because of heavy pre-sales with $35.8M Friday. But the front-loaded pic dropped a big but expected 41% to $21M Saturday. (Similarly front loaded Sex And The City also had a big Friday to Saturday fall…)With an estimated $13.6M Sunday from 3,419 theaters, including $7M worth of Thursday midnight shows, Twilight will end up with $70.5M for its first North American weekend in release. Exit polling showed audiences were 75%/25% female to male, and 55%/25% under or over the age of 25. Fangirls — or should I say fang-girls — were buying 5 Twilight tickets per second as of early Friday morning, making it online ticket-seller Fandango’s fastest-selling film since The Dark Knight last July. Then the tween and teen females in store bought or homemade Twilight clothes (and even Twilight tattoos) flocked to the first Big Screen version of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling series of Romeo & Juliet-style vampire romance books. Yet the movie adaptation by Melissa Rosenberg was made by start-up studio Summit for only $37M. This will be the start of a big new franchise since a sequel is already in the works — New Moon, based on Meyer’s second book in the series. The first box office records have already been broken by Twilight‘s girl power. This is the biggest opening for a female director. Catherine Hardwicke is easily beating Mimi Leder’s $41.1M for 1998’s Deep Impact. (But with an asterisk since these figures aren’t adjusted for inflation, ticket prices, etc.) Twilight will have the 2nd best opening day for a November release behind Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, and the 11th best Friday opening of all time, beating the first Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, and the 15th best opening day ever. It also scored the 4th best November opening weekend of all time, and the 4th best opening weekend of 2008. It’s a defining moment for Summit’s start-up studio that had really struggled on its first few releases. On Saturday morning, Summit officially announced the greenlight for the New Moon sequel (I’m told to contain costs the studio is considering making sequels #2 and #3 back to back like other successful franchises have done), and Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart formally thanked fans for their support of what is now a movie franchise.
No. 2 was the new Bond pic Quantum Of Solace which was down 68% from its franchise record opening a week ago to earn $8.5M Friday from 3,458 venues. But its take jumped to $11.6M Saturday for a $27.4M weekend, -59% from last weekend — with a new North American cume past $109.4M (passing $100M Saturday in just 6 days time). Going into Friday, Daniel Craig’s 2nd turn as 007 has made $335M worldwide. The actioner opened in Australia and Spain to the biggest Bond openings ever. So MGM/Sony had an overseas weekend of $40.6M which will put international at $309M for a staggering $418.5M worldwide through Sunday. There are four territories left to open — New Zealand, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Japan.
Because Twilight played much younger than expected Friday, it took “that extra bite right out of Bolt,” according to one studio mogul. As a result, Disney’s toon starring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus debuted Friday with only $7M from 3,651 runs. But Saturday kiddie matinees came through for the pooch pic which gained 66% to earn $11.7M and only a $27M weekend which is less than expected for Disney animation. This family fare had the largest digital 3D release ever, opening at approximately 979 Digital 3D locations which did 2x the business of 2D auditoriums. Last Saturday, the studio sneaked the pic at around 880 theaters to build word of mouth.
DreamWorks Animation’s toon sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa distributed by Paramount came in No. 4 with $3.7M Friday and $7.3M Saturday from 4,007 dates for a $16M weekend a fresh $137.4M cume. And Universal’s raunchy R-rated comedy Role Models continues to surprise by outperforming: at #5, it took in $2.4M Friday and $3 Saturday from 2,733 plays for a $7.2M weekend a new cume of $48M.
No. 6 was Universal’s Changeling with $2.6M in 1,739 theaters for a new cume of $31.6M. No. 7 was Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year with $2M from 2,361 venues for a new cume of $88.8M. No. 8 was The Weinstein Co’s Zack And Miri Make A Porno with $1.7M from 1,222 venues for a new cume of $29.3M. No. 9 was Miramax’s Boy In The Striped Pajamas with $1.6M from 406 runs for a new cume of $2.6M. And rounding out the Top 10 was Fox Searchlight’s The Secret Life Of Bees with $1.2M from 1,095 dates for a new cume of $35.6M.
Oscar-touted Slumdog Millionaire expanded into 32 venues for a projected $993K weekend and $1.6M cume. (The Fox Searchlight pic opened last Wednesday on 10 screens and this Wednesday grossed +54% on the same 10 screens. As one insider told me, “That never happens. As a point of reference, even Juno last year didn’t do this.”) The pic had the 2nd best per screen average Friday behind only Twilight.
- Summit Announces ‘Twilight’ Sequel “New Moon’: Stars Thank Fans
- ‘Twilight’ Midnight Showings $7M; Fastest Online Ticket Sales Since Batman
- New Bond Now Boasts $355M Worldwide
![[Watch] Natalie Portman film A Tale of Love and Darkness](https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/a-tale-of-love-and-darkness.jpg?w=91&h=59&crop=1)
I was dreading the thought of seeing TWILIGHT- I could have gone to the all media screening earlier this week and at the last minute changed my mind as I didn’t want to deal with the parking garage at The Grove/Farmer’s Market.
So I dragged myself into a theatre to see the film today … A movie theatre with an easier parking situation..(yes I paid when I could have seen it the other night for free) AND I LOVED THIS FILM. TWILIGHT
100 PERCENT EXCEEDED ANY EXPECTATIONS THAT I HAD. I thought I would hate it and I LOVED IT.
I LOVED TWILIGHT AND THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS IT WAS TOO FAST WAY TOO FAST THEY SHOULD OF LINGERED ON THE ROMANTIC/PASSIONATE SCENES !!!!
LOVED TWILIGHT !!!!
I CAN’T WAIT FOR NEW MOON !!!!
No violence? What do you call that fight scene where Bella gets her leg smashed and her arm bit?
It will be interesting to see if Summit decides to pull a Lionsgate and have the sequel ready for 11/20/09.
I’m so happy to see how well it’s doing already. I was nervous. I saw the movie at the midnight showing, and am going again tomorrow with some other friends. I hope it continues to hold it’s ground. I also hope that the next one will not take too long to make it to the big screen.
congrats to summit entertainment!!!
all those big movie companies are gonna wish they took up a chance to film twilight!
saw it-loved it! me and my friends were shaking at the beggining. (ha-ik i can’t spell)
omg, Twilight was the best movie i have EVER seen!!! It was funny, and like the book. It could have been a little better, but overall, it was GREAT!!! **********
Twilight sounds super-sanitized and boring.
Twilight wasn’t bad. It was a reasonable rendering of the book – not great filmmaking, the dialog was a bit bland, but overall not bad at all.
Bolt, on the other hand, was fantastic. Great story telling and one of the best action sequences ever on screen at the beginning of the film. Just a lot of fun and very touching as well. I hope Disney stays with Bolt, it’ll have a banging Thanksgiving weekend after all the Twilight fan girls have cycled through.
Bolt is by far the better movie
Okay, twilaholic – “The best movie I’ve EVER seen” or “it could have been better” The only thing I can draw from this is that you haven’t seen many movies, but then again at 13 who has?
So there you have it from a fangirl, folks – “it could have been better”
Yes, it certainly could have been. My prediction, it opens well, but has no legs.
@ Delgado:
I wouldn’t be surprised if Summit does aim for next November for the sequel. They already signed the two stars and the screenwriter for two more movies before “Twilight” even came out, and the fact that Summit is moving on with the sequel after the opening day shows that Summit really wants to cash in on this film’s popularity.
And if Summit keeps making these “Twilight” movies at a low budget, it’ll be a more lucrative franchise than Lionsgate’s horrible “Saw” series.
there’s a much better vampire film playing in theaters right now LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
No violence?! What?? No, it’s not full of hardcore violence but saying no violence is a blatant lie.
I saw Twilight at midnight and I’m not a girl… or a teen… but I was one of the few at the theater that wasn’t.
The best thing about the movie? The fact that “15 Steps” by Radiohead closed it out.
twilight was the worst movie i have ever watched. Dont even waste your money to go see it.
Hah! This film deserves to do well. Sure there were some things a high critic might pick apart, but it was drowned out by everything that was done right.
I think it might be overlooked by the masses, dismissing it as a tween fangirl flick. That would be a shame.
I am a male in my late twenties, never read the books and don’t care to. I only went to go see it because I know a bunch of girls who are all obsessed with the books and I wanted to see what it was about without reading :P
I was definitely the best films I have seen in a while – even considering its shortcomings (briefly at times, it seems like a tv show and not like a movie – but it quickly moves along and overcomes)
@ KJA:
What’s with All the Weird Capitalization.
Really Annoying to Read. You’re spending too much Time trying to Emphasize Words. Trust your Reader to Decide.
;)
Why isn’t the woman the vampire protecting the man? It just seems sexist to me!
OK I was not a fan and had never heard of the books. I was the designated Dad the driver for the midnight showing. I really liked the movie and look forward to the next. Although there is not a lot there is violance.
That’s right. None of the good stuff. Just a bunch of good old-fashioned hateful MORMON ALLEGORIES. (FYI, the Twilight books are written by a devout mormon who made each story essentially encapsulate part of their religious tales and these are supported by her church). But hey, who doesn’t mind letting other people indoctrinate their children, huh?
Also, NOBODY CARES ABOUT VAMPIRES ANYMORE. WE, AS A CULTURE — ***ARE OVER THEM***. Unless you’re a fat middle aged housewife, we’re done with them. We’ve BEEN done with them since the late 90s.
And another thing — the leading guy looks like a complete mouth-breathing douche bag.
TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT IS THE BEST EVR! TWILIGHT MOVEY, ITS GOOD! EDWARD CULLEN IS SOOOOOOO SEXY! TWILIGHT!
i saw the movie last niight and i liked it im going to read the books over thnksgiving break once i get it from my friend. i <3 edward cullen!!!!
Has anyone over 40 seen this movie and liked it?
JoAnne:
have you rad the books?
because if you did u would get why “the woman vampire” ( known as victoria ) didn’t protect james.
l lovedthe mvie it was so amazing.
I do agree it went by really fast and should have showed more love between bells and Edward.
I would glady watch this a million times over.
and Bolt being better than Twilght?
impossible.
Twilight is nothing more than tween girl trash. Any man who goes to see this movie, willingly or unwillingly, can no longer be considered a man in any sense of the word. No self-respecting male would subject himself to this junk.
The things I loved about Twilight were no sex, no stars, no bad language. The more those two tried not to touch each other the hotter it got and the more the teenagers in the theater screamed (with joy). I hope Hollywood takes note that the sexest movie made in a long time never goes further than a couple of intense kisses. I’m already making plans to see it again.