`New Moon' rises to blockbuster with $142.8M

LOS ANGELES -The vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" put the box office into orbit with a $142.8 million opening weekend. The sequel took in twice as much as "Twilight" in its first three days a year ago.

It was the third-best opening weekend ever.

The "New Moon" total climbed $2.1 million higher than distributor Summit Entertainment had estimated Sunday.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," Summit, $142,839,137, 4,024 locations, $35,497 average, $142,839,137, one week.

2. "The Blind Side, $34,119,372, 3,110 locations, $10,971 average, $34,119,372, one week.

3. "2012," Sony, $26,410,206, 3,408 locations, $7,749 average, $108,131,263, two weeks.

4. "Planet 51," Sony, $12,286,129, 3,035 locations, $4,048 average, $12,286,129, one week.

5. "Disney's a Christmas Carol," Disney, $12,275,024, 3,578 locations, $3,431 average, $79,836,002, three weeks.

6. "Precious: Based On the Novel `Push' By Sapphire," Lionsgate, $10,881,772, 629 locations, $17,300 average, $21,277,521, three weeks.

7. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," Overture, $2,829,031, 2,056 locations, $1,376 average, $27,680,089, three weeks.

8. "Couples Retreat," Universal, $1,943,075, 1,712 locations, $1,135 average, $104,992,030, seven weeks.

9. "The Fourth Kind," Universal, $1,747,085, 1,648 locations, $1,060 average, $23,359,890, three weeks.

10. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," Sony, $1,617,417, 1,640 locations, $986 average, $70,258,545, four weeks.

11. "Law Abiding Citizen," Overture Films, $1,606,053, 1,327 locations, $1,210 average, $70,018,193, six weeks.

12. "Pirate Radio," Focus, $1,460,592, 883 locations, $1,654 average, $5,184,068, two weeks.

13. "Paranormal Activity," Paramount, $1,401,112, 1,902 locations, $737 average, $106,082,922, nine weeks.

14. "An Education," Sony Pictures Classics, $826,755, 303 locations, $2,729 average, $4,268,905, seven weeks.

15. "Where the Wild Things Are," Warner Bros., $688,060, 1,010 locations, $681 average, $74,665,359, six weeks.

16. "The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day," Apparition, $599,257, 204 locations, $2,938 average, $3,552,730, four weeks.

17. "The Box," Warner Bros., $494,345, 965 locations, $512 average, $14,503,106, three weeks.

18. "A Serious Man," Focus, $444,008, 198 locations, $2,242 average, $7,476,004, eight weeks.

19. "Astro Boy," Summit, $406,074, 724 locations, $561 average, $18,621,561, five weeks.

20. "Kurbaan," Utv Motion Pictures, $403,678, 83 locations, $4,864 average, $403,678, one week.

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.