Twilight sinks teeth into box office
LOS ANGELES, USA (AP) — Bella Swan, James Bond and Abe Lincoln have combined to lift Hollywood to record Thanksgiving revenue at the box office.
Kristen Stewart’s finale as Bella in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 was Number 1 again with US$64 million during the five-day holiday stretch that began Wednesday, according to studio estimates yesterday.
Daniel Craig’s Bond adventure Skyfall came in at Number 2 with US$51 million, while Daniel Day-Lewis and Steven Spielberg’s Civil War saga Lincoln finished third with US$34.1 million.
According to box-office tracker Hollywood.com, the three films paced Hollywood to an all-time Thanksgiving week best of about US$290 million from Wednesday to yesterday.
That tops the previous record of US$273 million over Thanksgiving in 2009, when The Twilight Saga: New Moon led the weekend.
This Thanksgiving was also a huge 25 per cent jump from a year ago, when domestic revenues were a weak US$232 million as some big holiday releases fizzled.
With a strong December line-up ahead, Hollywood has resumed its record revenue pace for the year after a brief box-office lull in late summer and early fall.
Domestic revenues for 2012 are at US$9.75 billion, putting Hollywood potentially on track for its first US$11 billion year, which would beat the 2009 record of US$10.6 billion, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
