Saturday update
The fourth installment of Summit Entertainment's "Twilight" franchise remained the box office leader Friday, taking in $16.9 million, according to studio estimates.
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" is on track to gross $61 million over the five-day holiday weekend. Disney's "The Muppets," meanwhile, took in an estimated $12.3 million on Friday and now is looking at a $42 million five-day weekend.
Two other new releases, the Paramount/GK Films 3D "Hugo" and the Sony/Aardman animated "Arthur Christmas" grossed about $4.5 million each on Friday. "Arthur Chrismtas" is tracking for about $15.2 million for the long weekend and "Hugo" looks to be set for $15 million for the five days, according to rival-studio estimates.
The Warner Bros. holdover "Happy Feet Two" grossed an estimated $5.1 million on Friday. That movie is on pace for $17.2 million over the five-day weekend.
Friday update:
Summit Entertainment's fourth "Twilight" movie continued its strong play Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, grossing $7.8 million, according to studio estimates, and beating a trio of newly released PG movies.
That group included Disney's "The Muppets," which fell off its early strong pace Thursday, grossing just $5.9 million. The film is now on pace to gross less than $40 million over the five-day holiday.
Among other newly released titles, Martin Scoresese's 3D family film "Hugo" grossed $2.3 million, according to rival-studio estimates. The Paramount/GK Films release is on pace to gross just over $16 million over the holiday period.
Sony/Aardman's "Arthur Christmas" grossed $1.9 million Thursday and is on pace to gross less than $15 million over the holiday.
Among holdovers, Warner's "Happy Feet Two" took in $2.1 million Thursday. It could have more than $40 million in total grosses by the time the weekend is over, but that's not where the studio hoped the $130 million film would be after two weekends.
Thursday update:
Disney's anticipated film reboot of "The Muppets" enjoyed a solid $6.6 million debut Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. But it was the continued strong play of Summit's "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" that continued to rule the box office, grossing $12.4 million, according to rival-studio estimates.
The fourth "Twilight" movie is on pace to gross close to $60 million over the five-day holiday period, which would give it a domestic total of well over $200 million by the end of the weekend.
Debuting at 3,440 theaters, Disney's "The Muppets" could come close to $50 million over the same five-day period, which beat pre-release estimates.
Also read: Disney's 'Muppets': The Raciest Marketing Campaign Ever for a PG Film (Video)
While "The Muppets" will manage to carve a niche at a box office flooded with PG films, Paramount/GK Films' "Hugo" and Sony/Aardman's "Arthur Christmas" had a quieter time getting established Wednesday.
"Arthur Christmas" debuted to $2.4 million at 3,376 U.S. and Canadian theaters Wednesday and is on pace for only around $16 million for the five-day holiday.
