Shocker: 'New Moon' beats 'Dark Knight's' Midnight record

Can it set the single day record too?

By Gregory Ellwood Friday, Nov 20, 2009 1:08 PM

No one expected "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" to disappoint at the box office, but even Summit Entertainment has to be surprised by the massive opening the sequel garnered from midnight shows across the country. Distributors are still submitting their grosses but sources tell HitFix "New Moon" has set a new record and may have made as much as $25 million from its midnight launch.

Update: Summit officially announces $26.23 million for midnight shows for "New Moon."

To compare, previous record holder "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" which made $22.2 million last summer or the "The Dark Knight" made $18.4 million in over 3,000 theaters in 2008. However, both of those films were also on IMAX screens which charge higher ticket prices thereby inflating the overall gross. Not jumping on the IMAX bandwagon (so far), only makes "New Moon's" gross even more remarkable.

Opening in 3,514 theaters, "New Moon" could also challenge "Dark Knight's" single day gross of $67 million, but that seems a tad unlikely based on a predominantly female only fan base. As for the weekend, the first "Twilight" dropped 49% from Friday to Saturday and the sequel is expected to find a similar drop. On the other hand, "Dark Knight" dropped only 29% over that span. Therefore, breaking the acclaimed thriller's opening weekend gross record of $158.4 million has to be out of reach, but surpassing this year's champ, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with $108 million, is entirely possible (at the moment at least).

Overseas fans have also taken a bib bite into the hype as "New Moon" did stellar business in France and Spain on Wednesday. In France, the Vampire flick found $4.35 million U.S. on only 751 prints. Spain's gross was just as strong with $2.1 million U.S. on 603 prints.

With "2012" continuing to do strong business and Sandra Bullock's "The Blind Side" projecting an $18-22 million opening, this could be a record setting weekend at the box office all around for the industry.

Look for more box office updates as the weekend progresses on HitFix.

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

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.

Related Searches: The Twilght Saga New Moon, New Moon, Box office, friday, Midnight Grosses, The Dark Night, record, Summit Entertainment

Next Article - Box Office: 'New Moon' rises with a record setting $72.7 million Friday
Previous Article - Uma Thurman to romance Robert Pattinson in 'Bel Ami'

honk_mahfah

Shocker?!? Uh, no. If you work at a movie theatre showing "New Moon," you've known this was going to happen for two months. On a related note, I may be getting ill or something, because I actually kinda liked this movie. Hated the first one, thought the books were garbage ... but kinda liked this movie.
November 20, 2009 at 4:22PM EST Reply to Comment
Ajay

But Harry Potter 6 had less midnight showings, so this is kind of skewed. Every theater in this area that got it had at least one midnight screening, one had EIGHT! The buzz around the Twilight saga is becoming ridiculous.
November 20, 2009 at 6:41PM EST Reply to Comment
babydoll

omg....im soo happy to hear this news. i knew they were ganna make some sort of record. god people camped outside n even waited in line for hours in front of the theater inside to watch this movie. i absolutly loved this movie. i wanted more action sequences but im happy w. wat i saw. cant wait for Eclipse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 21, 2009 at 4:32AM EST Reply to Comment
honk_mahfah

It's quite possibly not just going to be the midnight record that falls; I'm predicting that the single-day record was broken on Friday, too. I don't think it'll have the juice to beat "The Dark Knight"'s opening-weekend record, BUT ... with some schools out on Monday across the nation, it may have a better-than-normal Sunday. If that happens, then it's got a real shot at it. Wish I didn't mostly dislike the series. All this fuss seems like some sorta weird Beatlemania but with people freaking out over The Turtles instead of The Beatles.
November 21, 2009 at 6:10AM EST Reply to Comment
Taylor

my theatre in frederick, md had all 16 theatres showing new moon at midnight, and every single ticket was sold out.
November 21, 2009 at 2:03PM EST Reply to Comment
- honk_mahfah Same here. And almost every show on Friday sold out, too.
  November 21, 2009 at 3:37PM EST
lazygarfield

Oh dear god. It is the beginning of the end. But does it deserve this much?
November 22, 2009 at 1:44AM EST Reply to Comment
Jade

oh please, how can you call this result a 'shocker'. twilight series is analagous to harry potter phenom. 'dark knight' had merchandising stuff to go along with it, maybe stuff for children and some nostalgic adults, and notoriety from the tragedy of one of its stars. but it had no dove-tailing book series, no really wide range of fans, and no trio team of appealing youth stars with whom a gazillion teens/tweens can identify and possibly idolize. lots of women seem into 'twilight' too, so yet another demographic shelling out money to see the movie. maybe what's surprising would be if it does NOT make a whole lot more, because young people ['huh, what recession'] are all about keeping up with what's trendy, which this is.
November 22, 2009 at 2:44AM EST Reply to Comment