'Twilight Saga' rules N.America box office with record opening

Poster of "Breaking Dawn". [Photo/ agencies]

The latest installment on the "Twilight Saga" movie franchise has shocked the industry over the weekend, which is expected to achieve a record-setting opening weekend gross of 139.5 million U.S. dollars from North America theaters, finishing as the top grosser.

The fourth installment in the Summit Entertainment's vampire- and-werewolf movie, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1" took in 72 million dollars in ticket sales on Friday when it premiered in 4,061 locations in the United States and Canada, representing the third-best opening Friday this year, lagging only behind "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 "and "New Moon, " according to statistics provided by the studio. On Saturday, it saw a 43.5 percent decrease in receipts, bagging 40.7 million dollars in ticket stub cash.

The penultimate film on the vampire series starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner is projected to take in another 26.8 million dollars on Sunday, or on track for a nearly 140 million dollar weekend, as what the studio and industry analysts have estimated.

The feat marks fifth-best opening weekend gross of all time preceded by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "The Dark Knight," "Spider-Man,"and "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." The receipt is only 3.3 million dollars shy of the franchise record set by "New Moon" debuting in Nov. 2009.

As is case with previous installments of the series, Bill Condon's romantic film is well received by female, who accounted 80 percent of all moviegoers who have seen the film, and teenagers account for 60 percent. However, the movie only received a so-so " B-minus" rating from moviegoer review firm CinemaScore.

The critics, on the other hand, have agreed in giving the flick a negative review. The film is characterized by "Slow, joyless, and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments," movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes said, and it also reported that only 27 percent of 137 critics saw it in positive light.

Combining the generally negative feedback from audiences and critics, the film is bound for a drastic decline next weekend, said Hollywood analysts.

"Happy Feet Two," a 3D sequel to George Miller's beloved 2D toon, opened with a 22 million dollar gate, finishing in second place. This is disappointing, as distributor Warner Bros. had projected to open to about 30 million dollars.

"Immortals," a Relativity Media fantasy actioner which is in its second week of exhibition, took the third place, grossing 12.3 million dollars. The Tarsem Singh's project is on track for a 53 million dollar two-week total.

Rounding out top 10 most-popular films in North America are " Jack And Jill" (12 million dollars), "Puss In Boots" (10.7 million dollars), "Tower Heist" (7 million dollars), "J. Edgar" (5.9 million dollars), "Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas" (2.9 million dollars), "In Time" (1.7 million dollars), and "The Descendants" ( 1.2 million dollars).