The Twilight Saga: New Moon narrowly held on to its number one berth over a record Thanksgiving holiday weekend that saw it add a further $42.5m over three days and $66m over five according to estimates from Summit Entertainment, raising the domestic tally to $230.7m.

Staying close behind in second on $40.1m was Warner Bros’ true-life drama The Blind Side, which gave Sandra Bullock another $100m result as it finished the weekend on $100.3m.

Overall box office delivered a Thanksgiving weekend record of $278m, eclipsing the previous best of $244m set in 2000.

New Moon dropped 70% in its second weekend, although Summit top brass understandably preferred to focus on the fact that it mustered a $10,515 average over three days in 4,042 theatres and has taken a mere eight days to cross $200m. By comparison Twilight, the one that started it all almost exactly one year ago, concluded its 20-week North American run on $192.8m

  • Buena Vista’s family comedy Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams opened fourth on $16.8m, one place behind Sony’s disaster movie 2012, which raised the tally by $18m to $138.8m in its third weekend.

  • Warner Bros’ martial arts release Ninja Assassin landed in sixth place on $13.1m, while Fox’s family animated tale Fantastic Mr Fox climbed 15 places to ninth on a whisker over $7m for $10.1m after three weekends. The film expanded wide from four theatres to 2,033 and did what was expected of it.

  • Lionsgate’s heavy Oscar contender Precious delivered another fine result after dropping 35% and two places to eighth on $7.1m for $32.5m after four weeks.

  • Dimension opened John Hillcoat’s apocalyptic drama The Road in 11th place on $1.5m from 111 theatres. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall. Apparition’s action sequel The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day in 12th place added $1.3m from 373 to stand at a respectable $5.7m after five.

Next weekend’s wide releases are: Screen Gems’ heist thriller Armored with Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne and Jean Reno; Liongate’s long-gestating drama remake Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire; road movie Everybody’s Fine from the moribund Miramax starring Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore; and Full Circle Releasing’s Transylmania. Paramount launches Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air in limited release.

Estimated Top 10 North America November 27-29 2009
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment) Summit Int’l $42.5m $230.7m

2 (2) The Blind Side (Warner Bros) WBPI $40.1m $100.3m

3 (3) 2012(Sony) SPRI $18m $138.8m

4 (-) Old Dogs (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $16.8m $24.1m

5 (5) A Christmas Carol (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $16m $105.4m

6 (-) Ninja Assassin (Warner Bros) WBPI $13.1m $21m

7 (4) Planet 51 (Sony) SPRI $10.2m $28.5m

8 (6) Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire (Lionsgate) $7.1m $32.5m

9 (24) Fantastic Mr Fox (Fox) Fox Int’l $7m $10.1m

10 (7) The Men Who Stare At Goats (Overture) Mandate Int’l $1.5m $30.6m

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