Breaking Dawn - Part 1 gets record-ready.
Another year, another Twilight, but how much exactly will the first half of the two part adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's work gross come opening weekend?
Let's compare previous films in the franchise, including debut weekends, total domestic and international grosses.
Twilight, the film that sparked a trend of camping vampire and werewolf fans worldwide, debuted November 21st, 2008, grossing $69 million, before ending off with $192.7 million domestically. Overseas, the Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) film pulled in over $199.84 million, bringing its worldwide total to over $392.6 million. Not too shabby from a $37 million budget.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon stirred controversy when booting Catherine Hardwicke, and made its debut on November 20th, 2009, this time with a $50 million gross behind it. Pic helmed by Chris Weitz coined $142.8 million on its opening weekend prior to ending its North American run at $296.6 million, with a worldwide total of $709.2 million, thanks to a big $413.2 million overseas.
David Slade-directed The Twilight Saga: Eclipse debuted on June 30th last year, backed by an even bigger $68 million production budget. That said, the third film made less than half of New Moon on its first weekend run - $64.8 million. However, the film topped the previous film's domestic gross, earning $300.5 million. Internationally, fans still packed in to ensure over $397.9 million, bringing its total worldwide cume to over $698.4 million.
How much will The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 make on debut weekend? From around 4,061 theaters, I'd say north of $140 million, powered by a pregnant Bella Swan, marriage and the whole conflict in general. Expect a total domestic gross of over $350 million and international sales of close to $400 million.
Still, a sizeable portion of the weekend's earning's could go to Warner Bros. Pictures' Happy Feet Two in 3D, snagging families keen on seeing the sequel to an Oscar-winning first flick. Film opens in over 3,600 theaters with a cast including Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Sofía Vergara, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Hank Azaria.
Indie openers this weekend:
Alexander Payne's critically-acclaimed dramedy The Descendants, starring George Clooney, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Robert Forster and Shailene Woodley, finds a limited expansion of 27 theaters, after opening Wednesday in 5 New York and Los Angeles-based venues.
First Run Features debuts their Garbo: The Spy documentary and Screen Media Films sends out The Lie Drama, starring Joshua Leonard, Jess Wexler and Mark Webber.