‘New Moon’ opening weekend sales
"New Moon" star Robert Pattinson image from Flickr.
Never underestimate the power of teenage girls. Variety reports that the “Twilight Saga: New Moon” audience was 80 percent female (and 50 percent of those females are younger than 21), and the “New Moon” opening day sales now top the box office charts with more than $72 million in the U.S.
“New Moon” opening weekend sales were the third-highest of all time. “New Moon” made more than $140 million domestically, blowing the estimates that the film would make $85 million to $100 million this weekend out of the water. Only “The Dark Knight” and “Spider-Man 3″ made more opening weekend sales at the U.S. box office.
‘New Moon’ at midnight and around the world
“New Moon” also pulled in the most money for midnight ticket sales, earning $26.3 million at the U.S. box office Thursday before the early morning Friday shows. It’s likely those who were short of cash paid for their tickets with an allowance advance rather than a loan till payday, but filmmakers and theaters don’t care where the money comes from.
“New Moon” got into the record books for worldwide sales, too, making nearly $259 million internationally (including U.S. sales). That makes it the seventh-highest grossing opening weekend of all time. The first “Twilight” movie didn’t even make the top 50.
Girls night out
A lot of women headed to the theaters this weekend; 59 percent of those who saw “The Blind Side” were women. “The Blind Side” came in second at the box office for weekend sales, making $34.5 million. I guess if you wanted to find the guys at the theater you could check in front of the screens where “2012″ was playing. “2012″ came in third for weekend sales, pulling in $26.5 million.
So if women fueled sales for “New Moon” and “The Blind Side” and men bought tickets for “2012″ (that is an assumption on my part), children were responsible for rounding out the top 5 in terms of box office sales in the U.S. “Planet 51″ came in fourth place with $12.6 million, and “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” made $12.2 during its third weekend at the box office.
