Is anyone out there surprised that New Moon ruled the global box office this past weekend?
Not only did it suck up $140,7-million in its first three days playing at United States cinemas, but it brought in a further $118m from 25 other territories, according to Box Office Mojo.
This means it made $258,8-million at the global office, putting it at the seventh highest grossing opening for a film ever.
The film hasn’t opened on circuit in South Africa yet, but we did have a sneak preview at midnight on Friday night which netted Nu Metro R531 232 for that one screening alone.
New Moon played on 44 screens locally with Johannesburg’s Montecasino hosting the highest attendance at 1 756 fans over five cinemas.
Countrywide, altogether 10 751 local fans braved the witching hour to be the first to watch the Twilight sequel in South Africa, making them part of film history since the film is now the biggest vampire movie on record. It more than doubled the record set by last year's Twilight, which started the Twilight craze.
The third film Eclipse, directed by David Slade, is already in post production and is slated for a July 2010 release.
In the US New Moon also set an all-time high for opening day takings on Friday at $72,7m, pushing The Dark Knight (at $67,2m) into second place.
However, The Dark Knight still comes out tops for the best three day weekend opening at $158,4m, followed by Spider-Man 3 at $151,5m.
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