'New Moon' shatters box-office records

While not my cup of tea (I prefer the classics such as "I Was A Teenage Werewolf"), a teen vampire/werewolf flick set all kinds of new box-office records over the weekend.

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" made $142.8 million over the weekend and set the record for best opening day ever, beating "The Dark Night," which went on to make more than $533 million at the U.S. box-office.

Don't expect "New Moon" to top the caped crusader when the final box-office receipts are counted (there aren't that many teenage girls in the world), but there's no questioning the box-office appeal of horny teenage vampires and werewolves. "New Moon" cost just $50 million to produce, so it's already made its money back and then some.

And when you add to $132.1 million it made overseas, its total box-office take so far is nearly $275 million.

Here's this weekend's Top 5 domestic films, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com:

1 The Twilight Saga: New Moon $142,839,137
2 The Blind Side $34,119,372
3 2012 $26,410,206
4 Planet 51 $12,286,129
5 A Christmas Carol (2009) $12,275,024

The real loser this weekend was "2012" which saw its receipts drop nearly 60% from its opening weekend. It's doubtful the end-of-the-world saga will earn back its $200 million production costs.

Disney's computer-animated version of "A Christmas Carol" is also dropping fast, but it might be able to make back its $200 million production costs if it can attract enough audiences between now and Christmas Day.

Here's what Brandon Gray of BoxOfficeMojo had to say about "New Moon" and a record-breaking weekend:

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" dawned with a hot-blooded $142.8 million on approximately 8,500 screens at 4,024 sites over the weekend, charting as the third highest-grossing opening behind only "The Dark Knight" and "Spider-Man 3" and the biggest of 2009. With the advent of New Moon, not to mention an excellent showing by "The Blind Side," overall business surged 57 percent over the same weekend last year when "Twilight" and "Bolt" debuted and was the second-highest seen in history, behind the weekend that "The Dark Knight" opened.

On its opening day, New Moon shattered the records for opening day ($72.7 million) and midnight showings ($26.3 million), thanks to the rush of its fervent fan base. Just like its predecessor, Twilight, the supernatural romance fell over 40 percent Friday-to-Saturday and the Friday accounted for more than half of the weekend business. On each day, New Moon essentially doubled the grosses of Twilight, which is an incredible feat for a sequel, especially when the first movie was already extremely popular. Twilight's first weekend came to $69.6 million, and, while it fell precipitously the following weekend, it held up well in its later weeks, ultimately grossing $192.8 million to become the biggest vampire movie on record (eclipsing "Interview with the Vampire" in attendance) as well as the top teen romance.