The question this weekend wasn’t whether Twilight: Breaking Dawn would have a good opening, it was just how big it would be. That question has now been answered with the latest in the series taking $139 million in its first three days in the US, and $283.5 million around the world. It’s the fifth biggest North American opening in history, but didn’t quite take the franchise record, which is still held by New Moon’s $142.8 million. It also scored the third biggest opening day gross ever, after the final Harry Potter and New Moon, taking $72 million in America on Friday.
The weekend’s other big opener didn’t have quite as much to cheer about, as Happy Feet Two landed with a rather tepid $22 million, about half what the first movie took when it opened. Warner knew they may face some competition for young females fromTwilight, but perhaps underestimated quite how much, as they’d predicted a $30 million plus opening.
However one other movie did outperform expectations – indeed going by per-theatre average, it outdid Breaking Dawn – and that’s George Clooney’s new movie The Descendants. The Hawaii set movie, directed by Sideways helmer Alexander Payne, took $1.2 million from only 27 screens. That’s a very impressive $42,000 per theatre, suggesting the film will do very well as it explands over the next few weeks.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of November 18th-20th, 2011.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 | $139.5 | $139.5 |
| 2 | Happy Feet Two | $22.0 | $22.0 |
| 3 | Immortals | $12.2 | $52.9 |
| 4 | Jack And Jill | £12 | $41.0 |
| 5 | Puss In Boots | $10.7 | $122.3 |
| 6 | Tower Heist | $7.0 | $53.4 |
| 7 | J. Edgar | $5.9 | $20.6 |
| 8 | A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas | $2.9 | $28.3 |
| 9 | In Time | $1.6 | $33.4 |
| 10 | The Descendants | $1.2 | $1.3 |
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Despite some rather stinging reviews, Immortals has gotten off to a pretty good start at the US box office with $32 million dollars. That may not be as much as the likes of 300 and Clash of The Titans, but still marks the biggest opening for a film not released by one of the six major studios since The Expendables.
Dreamworks Animation executives will be smiling today, as after worries last week that Puss In Boots opening weekend wasn’t up to the usual numbers the company makes, in its second weekend it hasn’t just stayed on top of the US box office chart, but it’s made almost exactly the same money it did in its first few days in cinemas – a rare feat. The film added $33.0 million to its tally, which suggests it’s going to have legs in the run up to Thanksgiving.
As expected, Puss In Boots shot to the top of the US box office, taking a Halloween record of $34.0 million. That may be the best the scary holiday has ever managed, but it’s not particularly stunning for Dreamworks Animation, especially as this is a spin-off from the Shrek franchise.