Studio execs should give plenty of thanks to female moviegoers: The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Blind Side led the best-ever Thanksgiving weekend at the box office by drawing women and families into theaters, while male-centric newcomers Old Dogs and Ninja Assassin only earned so-so numbers.
Following its record-breaking first weekend, first-place finisher New Moon brought in $42.5 million over the three-day (Friday through Sunday) weekend, driving its cume to a fantastic $230.7 million — the sixth highest of the year, just below Star Trek ($257.7 million). Not far behind, The Blind Side came in at No. 2 with $40.1 million by appealing to audiences who would rather watch a movie about football than stay home for a game on TV. With a $100.3 million total so far, the pigskin pic is Sandra Bullock’s second $100 million hit of the year after this summer’s The Proposal ($164 million).
Disaster pic 2012 ($18 million) continued to perform well, beating a duo of new releases: the Robin Williams-John Travolta buddy pic Old Dogs (fourth place, $16.8 million) and the actioner Ninja Assassin (sixth place, $13.1 million). With a $24.1 million total so far, Old Dogs hasn’t captured the same men-of-a-certain-age crowds that drove Travolta’s Wild Hogs to a $39.7 million debut back in 2007. Meanwhile, Disney’s A Christmas Carol (fifth place, $16 million) got a holiday bump, jumping 30 percent over last weekend to a total of $105.3 million.
Specialty pics found modest success, with the animated Fantastic Mr. Fox earning $7 million Fri.-Sun. in its first wide-release weekend, and The Road grossing $1.5 million at 111 theaters.
Overall, the box office raked in an all-time high of $278 million over the five-day weekend.
More box office news:
Box office: ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ crosses $200 million mark
Box office: ‘The Blind Side’ bests ‘Twilight’ on Thanksgiving
Comments (1-15) of 195 Add your comment
This is something nobody should be thankful for.
Pure garbage prevails!
Now we can look forward to Hollywood to churn out even more garbage.
too bad! Men don’t have the monopoly to watch garbage movies. We love them too!
Points for admitting you like to watch garbage!
Regardless of what you think is “garbage”, look who is ruling the market with movies they want to see. Kudos to the girls and congrats New Moon!
thank you thrilled!
I’m happy The Blind Side made so much money. It’s an excellent movie! And it features a cameo from my school’s football coach (Nick Saban) Roll TIDE!!
You know what’s sad?
I was looking forward to a REAL movie, The Road, to open this past week and the closest theater was a couple hours’ drive away.
This New Moon garbage is on a gazillion screens, but the mainstream theaters cannot find it in them to screen a true film.
What a sad world we live in.
It’s not New Moon’s fault that you’re a hillbilly…move if you don’t like living in a podunk one-screen town.
i gotta defend the guy there… i wanted to watch the road and i couldnt see it because it was playing a bit out from me. that was just a low blow on your part and shows how prepubescants are the ones making me really hate the twilight crap. dont worry puberty will hit you soon. shortly thereafter your first break up cause your “twilight love” is just a fantasy
That was uncalled for.
Okay, maybe it was a little harsh…I think the mean haters are rubbing off on me. I see that whoa believes turnabout is fair play…fyi, I’m not a tween at all, just a fan who enjoys the series for what it is and am fed up with the backlash against it.
both of us made uncalled for comments. i agree. difference? mine had more relevance to the subject. when you get considered a hillbilly because a movie that you want to see is only playing on 111 screens in the united states, that is ridiculous, and that stupidity got rewarded justly.
ok thats fair. and like i say its just this big conglomirate of a movie, and its just getting played out wayyyy too much. i can see where you are coming from but lets try not to let all other ostensible crap just put blinders on
I think we can be nicer to each other, BUT I don’t think it’s specifically New Moon’s fault that the guy couldn’t get his movie closer – and I don’t think he’d be so pouty about it if it was anything BUT New Moon, which he called garbage.
It’s the most popular movie in the country, and would deserve top billing for that reason, whether Chris likes it or not.
I probably live in a much bigger city than you do, you stupid broad.
What a nasty comment. And Twihards wonder why they annoy so many people. Calling someone a “hillbilly” because they have to drive to see a movie playing on only 100 or so screens is extremely rude.
First of all, I apologized earlier so just relax. Second of all, I have no idea why you’re not all up in arms about haters calling Twilight fans retarded and stupid, but this is was so horribly offensive to you.
He called THE FILM garbage. You called HIM a hillbilly. I know a lot of Twihards take any insults of the film as affronts to them personally, but surely even you can tell the difference between criticizing a film and calling an actual person a hillbilly. He didn’t say Twilight fans were “retarded” or “stupid,” he said the movie was garbage, which is his prerogative. And for someone who doesn’t want to be called stupid or retarded, you didn’t do much to sway opinion your way with your nasty and uncalled-for hillbilly comment.
Yeah I mean I live in a suburb of Columbus, OH and we have at least five movie theatres near our suburb alone. The closest movie theatre that was showing The Road was in Erie, PA…so that guy is quite possibly not a hillbilly
Maybe he’s not a hillbilly but a moron? Its all a matter of opinion people. His comments were not positive so why should he get a positive response?
The Road was fantastic BTW
Oh for heavens sakes…lighten up, weirdos (yes, I said WEIRDOS – gasp!)
The Road didn’t play in my city either. You’d think hillbilly was some sort of racial slur.
My point was that New Moon didn’t keep The Road from making it to his town. He’d have to live in a larger metropolitan area to see it.
Sheesh!
Why is it a sad world? I wouldn’t watch New Moon for free but your elitist bullshit is disgusting. Enjoying films that are deep and intellectual doesn’t make you a better, superior person. Not by a longshot. Be thankful that you were born with the capacity to appreciate the more sophisticated things in life and, then, GET OVER YOURSELF.
coooooooool
“The Time Magazine of Entertainment” was what this magazine used to proclaim!
Ha ha ha.
I know this is an article about the weekend’s box office take, but I have to say that this magazine is beating this Twilight hype into the ground.
I am a 29 year-old woman and even I have to admit these series of books and “films” are generic trash.
Have you seen what’s on next week’s EW cover????
Perez had pics the other day – please tell me it’s a joke EW
Ah, the one over to the right?
Wow, I’m a fan and would agree that’s overkill!
I took my tween daughter to see New Moon and I couldn’t believe this movie had so much hype. Bella spent the entire movie jumping from one guy to the next and when she wasn’t with a guy she was depressed and staring out the window day and night. I hope the next movie shows Bella getting help from a psychiatrist. I had to take my daughter home and remind her it’s just a movie and girls can have other plans after high school that don’t involve monkey bar relationships.
So The Princess and the Fog has the third biggest per screen average of all time and you don’t mention it? Odd.
Well thank YOU for telling me! It made my day. Looking forward to seeing it.
The Princess and the Frog doesn’t hit theaters until December 11th…
Unbelieveable on the Blind Side..I thought it was gonna be a crappy movie and be on DVD by next month. I was so wrong about Sandra Bullock.
“Watch online music videos 24/7 on defSpot com’
A 70% drop shows how poor word of mouth is.
EW has to spin the story to male their beloved twilight saga sound good. Any other movie they will emphasize the massive drop.
I agree completely. This past summer they crucified GI Jpoe and Transformers whci hboth had lower drops in their second weeks. This week they dont even mention the huge dr op of this crappy ass movie
Yeah I noticed how they didn’t even mentionthe 70% drop New Moon had
When you make 140 million the first weekend 70% drop is NORMAL. You people are odd.
No, I think having the best-ever Thanksgiving weekend run IS news.
But it is not the only news. New moon’s box office drop is also significant news, as well as blind side increase from last week. They report on that for other movies, why not new moon. It is not just because of new moon that the industry had their best thanksgiving weekend. I am so sick of EW’s obsession with twilight.
Actually, with movies like this one I think a 70% drop is more likely to mean that everyone who wanted to see it did so in the first week rather than poor word-of-mouth knocking it down.And for what it’s worth, I HAVE seen the drop mentioned on this site before.
That doesn’t totally jive, sorry. A steep drop (50-60%) was inevitable, yeah. It had nowhere to go but down. But a 70% drop is substantial enough that such a decline should have merited a mention or a bit of analysis on EW’s part. It speaks to more than “everyone who wanted to see it has seen it.” It’s more than that — probably a combination of poor word-of-mouth, people who’ve seen it already and people who opted not to see it multiple times.
I guaran-damn-tee that if it had been Generic Non-Twilight Event Movie and it had dropped 70%, EW would have noted it. Their rush to sugarcoat and be apologists for this crap is pathetic. The big weekend gross is news, yes. But so is a 70% drop, and also The Blind Side’s overall gain.
I think they didn’t mention it because this was thanksgiving weekend. The other movies mentioned were released in the summer. New Moon is top of the highest grossing thanksgiving weekend of all time hence why the drop is not a sign of failure.
Actually, and I can’t believe I keep defending this franchise(I’m not a fan), but you aren’t factoring in the midnight showings from last week or Thursday’s total from this week. People didn’t have the midnight craze this week nor did they have the luxury of a Thursday-through-Sunday weekend this week(and that income wasn’t included in the weekend total). It’s not as simple to say “bad word of mouth” because you want to bash the film. Most films don’t make 160 million their first weekend out either, so even with a 70 percent drop off, many of this week’s viewers could have been NEW ones.
Wow, Sandra Bullock has TWO $100M movies this year? Impressive.
And what were they thinking releasing a movie like Ninja Assassin on Thanksgiving weekend?
Yeah, that is really impressive. I love her.
people forget the whole point of movies is TO ENTERTAIN!!!! and review are, at the end of the day, JUST OPINIONS! if people wanna spend the $12 to escape for a couple of hours and enjoy something u dont, it’s their right! all the hating is RIDICULOUS!!! i read the books, loved the movie and will spend the $ to see it again…how that affects anyone else is beyond ME…
Well, if one takes the mercantilist view, Twilight making so much money means that in the future studios will churn out more of this garbage aimed at teenage girls at the cost of making, dare I say, better movies. Just a though.
@ Matt – Exactly!
*thought*
Matt – all this shows is that female audiences and young female audiences have a lot of muscle. They have the ability to make a movie they identify with a monster hit. For years boys and men have had movies geared solely towards them. Saw for example or Hostel etc. I think the fact that a tremendously popular book series made a tremendous amount of money should not be such a shock. Twilight series tapped into a much neglected audience. Also, just look at The Princess and the Frog. It’s also been doing quite well.
Eliza, don’t be ridiculous. How many chick flicks are released every year? MANY. Saying that for “years boys and men have had movies geared solely towards them” is only the half-truth, as for years girls and women have had movies geared solely towards them as well.
The reason people are so upset, is that Twilight is so outrageously stupid. People are mad that such ill-written books are so popular over much greater and more deserving books. Not to mention the films, which are full of terrible acting and dialogue that is ripe for ridicule.
And yes. I am a 22-year old woman.
MCAT I don’t disagree with you. However, whether it is a half-truth as you say, the fact is this movie was made for and geared toward a young female audience and they showed up in droves. What I was trying to say is that crappy movies have been made for boys/men and have been highly successful. I gave examples. This in my view is the female equivalent of Hostel and any number of summer blockbuster movies. This is catnip for young girls and it is what it is. I think there are probably better things in life to get this worked up over.
Mcat, who are you to determine what books and movies are most deserving of success? We should measure everything according to your tastes?
100% AGREED!
with Scarlett, that is
Too late.
I really like your viewpoint! I would never say that everyone has to like Twilight or anything that has to do with it, but I also cannot believe the amount of peopole who get on here just to biyatch about what EW reports on it! It pains me to see what people will stoop to in order to rip the movie..I for one am thrilled to have it and am proud to say I am one of the millions who helped get the movie where it is!
Scarlett i whole heartedly agree!!!!
Hey, Clooney’s has two flops out there and a third on the way. This guy really is movie star
Clooney is box office poison.
UP IN THE AIR….IS WONDERFUL…THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK..AND GO SEE THE FILM
Hurray for New Moon! Hurray for The Blind Side! Twilight is my guilty pleasure. I don’t care if people call it trash, I love it! I don’t understand why nobody was having an issue with Transformers 2 when it was burning up the box office. That movie is way more ridiculous than New Moon, but you didn’t see a whole lot of hate and contempt towards it.
Lots of people hated how successful TF2 was.
Oh please it was nothing like the seething hate some people have for twilight. I’m so fed up everytime people rant about how much they hate this series on EW. I’m seriously starting to consider giving up this website. Get over it. It’s so pointless and ridiculous. This is a story. That’s it. Let the fans enjoy the series in peace. People act as if twilight is hindering their lives. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much hate and anger over a freakin’ book. Shut up, grow up, and get over it.
I hated Transformers 2, and how successful it was. BUT, EW didn’t have Transformers 2 on the cover every other month, it didn’t saturate the site with Transformers coverage for months before and after the release, it didn’t sugarcoat the film’s BO decline and critical failure, etc. It’s not a comparable thing, sorry.
Transformers 2 was HORRIBLE!!! I’m most likely not going to see New Moon, but I can’t see how it would be any worse than Transformers 2 was.
Nathan = male voice of reason (finally)
Congrats on not letting your testosterone run rampant all over your common sense.
New moon dropped 70%, biggest thanksgiving drop ever, and you don’t mention it? It’s going to end it’s run with less than 300 million, it’s dropping fast and hard, word of mouth is clearly awful, and you don’t mention anything besides how amazing it is. Report the news, all of it.
And Way to forget to mention the princess and the frog.
The B.O articles are lacking, they barely give the numbers, and not much analysis. Be more professional and less bias,
Love your spin…as if it ending its run with less than $300 million would be shameful…yes, let’s concentrate on the DROP.
Come on, you can do better than that.
Ambient, it is quite common to report the drop in a second weekend. It signifies if a film has strong word of mouth or not. It’s not so much about concentrating on the drop, but the drop should be acknowledged. A 70% drop is very significant and should have been pointed out. And like you said, 300 mil total would of course not be shameful at all. But when you consider it made half of that in it’s opening weekend, it does seem a little pathetic. Although I still think it will gross more than 300 mil.
The fact that they also did not acknowledge that The Blind Side increased over its debut weekend is foolish too. I think last weekend it made about 34 mil and now it made 40 mil. An increase like that does not happen often and it should be acknowledged because it is quite a feat.
Um, when some people were saying, SERIOUSLY, that New Moon would beat out Half-Blood Prince ($301 million) and Transformers 2 ($400+ million), it IS worth noting such a steep drop.
Dave, I honestly DON’T think it’s going to get to $300 million domestically. Maybe close, but not if it keeps dropping like this. A lot heavier competition is opening in the next few weeks, too. Avatar, Princess and the Frog, Sherlock Holmes, The Lovely Bones, etc. are all films that could keep siphoning off New Moon viewers. It’s clearly not going to have the gentler decline that, say, The Dark Knight had. It’s also not playing in any 3D or IMAX theaters, which is where a lot of the event films these days make a little extra coin.
Yeah Lynn, you’re probably right.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Blind Side and New Moon. Hate on them if you want. The numbers will do all the talking.
I love it when studio execs are SHOCKED women go to the movies.
Exactly!!
Why would they be shocked. Are WE ALL forgeting the biggest movie in history “Titanic”. The reason that movie became the biggest of all time was because of female viewers. So i think we all know what women can really do.
Excellent point. Then why do we continue to be surprised? Twilight the box series was a huge success. This Team Edward/Jacob thing has been going on long before we knew what a RPattz was. All those fans went to go see this movie. The fans of the 1st movie went to go see this film. I’m not a fan of the books or films but I don’t really get the hubbub against it. It is what it is and everyone admits it. If some are passionate about it then so be it. I know a few people that are extremely passionate about Peter Parker – and he’s not real either.
spider-man pulls off the “love triangle” way better than twilight, just watch a couple of episodes of “Spectacular Spider-Man” & you’ll definitly realize that. BTW if twilight’s your guilty pleasure than Spider-Man is man, Plain & Simple
000000 (I’m sure I’m missing some O’s) – You make my point. People like what they like and get really into what they like. This book series has been immensely popular for years so that’s why the movies are so popular. It’s catnip for certain women and more power to them.
alright but don’t trash spider-man again
GO SEE UP IN THE AIR////I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK
New Moon is Fantastic and the numbers prove it, so get over it, haters! haha!
it’s fantastic? what are you smoking?
big numbers don’t equal a good movie, because if that were true it would be saying transformer’s 2 a fantastic movie also.
Don’t get so worked up over her.
She’ll be selling all of her Twilight garbage at a yard sale in
a couple of years’ time to help her get through her painful divorce.
Very mean.
Again – its called an opinion.
Right. Numbers automatically mean quality. In that case, Transformers 2 will win Best Picture of the year.
Why do you guys want to have it both ways? You complain about how lousy T2 was, despite its box office, but then turn around and say that New Moon’s financial success means that it’s a “good” movie. Stop being hypocritical. If you like New Moon, fine, good for you. But it’s not good solely because it’s made money. Lots of GREAT films make NO money, and lots of terrible films make a TON of money.