Teeing up what looks to become an astonishing opening weekend for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Summit Entertainment top brass said the film had shattered the domestic midnight opening record with an estimated $26.27m.

The vampire sequel screened in 3,514 theatres and averaged $7,476 per site. The result surpassed the previous midnight best of $22.2m set by Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. Ranking third now is The Dark Knight on $18.5m.

Summit re-released Twilight for one day only at 9pm shows on November 19 and it took $1.3m from 2,057 theatres.