Box Office: 'New Moon' has a Black Friday comeback over 'Blind Side'

It's happy times for Robert Pattinsion as "New Moon" has already surpassed "Twilight" at the box office.

Credit: AP Photo

So much for that theory that the "Twilight" fanbase has finally exhausted the box office potential of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."  After Sandra Bullock's "The Blind Side' nipped "New Moon" to win Thanksgiving, the vampire blockbuster made a huge comeback to capture the friday" class="autolink">Black Friday crown with a super strong $17.2 million. In just one eight days of release, "New Moon" has already out grossed the entire take of its predecessor with a stunning $206.1 million.  Is $300 million possible?  Don't doubt it.

One more fun fact.  It took "Twilight" 147 days in release to make $192 million.  "New Moon" did it in eight.  Enjoy that harsh reality naysayers.

Even more eye-popping though is the continued word of mouth magic of "Blind Side."  The football melodrama made $16.2 million on Friday which was 47% higher than that is opening day a week before.  That's almost unheard of in the movie business for a wide release this century.  "Blind Side" has a new total of $76.3 million and is clearly one of the sleeper surprises of the year.

In third, "2012" found another $7 million for a new total of $127.8 million.  The Roland Emmerich blockbuster keeps finding new victims, but it will be hard to hit the $200 million mark domestically.

Fourth place went to Disney's "Old Dogs" which had it's best day since releasing on Wednesday. The much maligned comedy grossed $6.8 million for a disappointing total of $14.1 million.  Fifth place went to studio stablemate "A Christmas Carol" with $6.64 and a new cume of $96 million.  The Robert Zemeckis motion-capture feast should pass $100 million today and finish anywhere from $125-150 million when all is said and done.

Among other newcomers, "Ninja Assassin" hasn't exploded among action fans as one might have expected or Warner Bros. had hped.  Leading "Ninja" Rain may be an icon in Asia, but in the U.S. he could only help "Ninja" find $5.7 in its third day for a new kicked in the face total of $13.5 million. 

Much sadder is the fate of "The Fantastic Mr. Fox." Wes Anderson's critically acclaimed stop motion animated tale has been bombed (sorry Seachies, it's true) with just another $3 million in wide release on Friday for a new take of $6 million. Eek.

One of the brightest stars this holiday frame though is another animated tale, Disney's return to hand drawn animation "The Princess and the Frog."  The fairy tale has had an absolutely magical launch in just two theaters.  Friday found another $277,000 for a remarkable three-day take of $707,630.  "Frog" opens nationwide on Dec. 11.

Look for final weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

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With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.