LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The Blind Side a drama about a white couple who give an illiterate black teen a home and a new lease on life, was the weekend box office winner, with estimated revenues of some 20.4 million dollars, industry media said Sunday.

Box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said that the feel-good film starring Sandra Bullock as a flinty southern mom who takes a struggling adolescent under her wing, shot to the top of the box office in its third week of release.

Its stunning rise apparently was the result of glowing reviews and strong word-of-mouth endorsements from satisfied filmgoers

Meanwhile, last week’s box office leader Twilight, the vampire romance sequel New Moon, was knocked to second place with 15.7 million dollars in revenue.

The second big-screen installment adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenally successful books now has earned a whopping 255.6 million dollars after over three weeks, Exhibitor Relations said.

In third place was the debut of Brothers, a melodrama starring Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire about the impact of the Afghanistan war on one conflicted American family. The film earned an estimated 9.7 million dollars in its opening weekend.

Fourth place went to Disney’s A Christmas Carol, which earned 7.5 million dollars in its fifth week.

Fourth place was claimed by Old Dogs, a Disney film starring John Travolta and Robin Williams, which took in 6.9 million dollars in its second weekend.

A new film, Armored, about security guards who pull off a heist of their own armored truck, debuted in sixth place with 6.6 million dollars in receipts.

Seventh place went to the special effects-laden, apocalyptic “2012,” which earned 6.6 million dollars in its fourth week of release.

Eighth place went to Ninja Assassin which earned five million dollars, while Planet 51, the animated tale of an astronaut forced to take refuge with a young alien on a faraway planet was ninth with 4.3 million dollars.

Debuting in 10th place was the Christmas-themed Everybody’s Fine, with an all-star cast led by Robert De Niro, which earned an estimated four million dollars.