The final three days of the Thanksgiving weekend narrowly belonged to “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” as the mega sequel added $42.5 million to its domestic gross. Now at $230.6 million cumulative, the film is sixth on the all-time gross list for the first ten days of release.
Elsewhere, the feel-good story of the weekend concerns the box office performance of “The Blind Side.” The film parlayed good reviews and the holiday season into a staggering weekend performance–though it could not repeat Thursday’s box office victory over “New Moon,” the film managed to gross a healthy $40.1 million over the past three days. That gross actually marks an 18% increase over last weekend’s debut and indicates that the film could be a steady performer over the next few weeks.
On the new release front, “Old Dogs” led the pack, landing in fourth with $16.8 million ($24.1 million since release). “Ninja Assassin” debuted at sixth with $13.1 million ($21 million to date), while “Fantastic Mr. Fox” joined the wide release market this weekend with $7 million from Friday to Sunday.
Weekend Top Ten:
1) New Moon – $42.5 million ($230.6 million)
2) The Blind Side – $40.1 million ($100.3 million)
3) 2012 – $18 million ($138.8 million)
4) Old Dogs – $16.8 million ($24.1 million)
5) A Christmas Carol – $16 million ($105.4 million)
6) Ninja Assassin – $13.1 million ($21 million)
7) Planet 51 – $10.2 million ($28.5 million)
8) Precious – $7.1 million ($32.5 million)
9) Fantastic Mr. Fox – $7 million ($10.1 million)
10) The Men Who Stare at Goats – $1.5 million ($30.6 million)
The Road was only in 111 theaters and beat Ninja Assasin per theater gross by $400 per theater. I would say that does not constitute a Bomb. This is the same strategy Precious used. Limited release at first and then grow wider.