'Breaking Dawn' Tops for Third Weekend

DEC 5, 2011 - Twilight's Breaking Dawn Part 1 claimed the top spot at the box office for the third weekend - thanks to an average hold and a comparatively poor second-weekend performance from its biggest competitor, The Muppets. On aggregate, the Top 12 grossed around US$75 million, which is slightly off from the same period last year (US$78.3 million).

Breaking Dawn Pt 1 dropped 60 percent to an estimated US$16.9 million. That tally is the best third-weekend gross out of all of the Twilight movies including New Moon, which fell 64 percent to US$15.4 million on the same weekend in 2009. Through 17 days, the penultimate Twilight movie has earned US$247.3 million.

The Muppets held on the second place with an estimated US$11.2 million. The movie has so far made US$56.1 million, and it should pass The Muppet Movie (US$65.2 million) next weekend to become the highest-grossing entry in the franchise (though it has no chance of surpassing that movie's attendance).

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Dec 2 - 4, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (1) Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Sum) $16.9 million ($247.3 million) 3

2. (2) The Muppets (BV) $11.2 million ($56.1 million) 2

3. (5) Hugo (Paramount) $7.6 million ($25.2 million) 2

4. (4) Arthur Christmas (Sony) $7.3 million ($25.2 million) 2

5. (3) Happy Feet Two (WB) $6.0 million ($51.7 million) 3