Vampires, werewolves howl at the tills

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vampires and werewolves continued to howl at the box-office with a $42.5-M weekend for The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Summit Entertainment’s Twilight sequel remained No. 1 over what proved a record Thanksgiving weekend for Hollywood. But New Moon was nearly blind-sided for the top spot by a real-life football drama.

The Blind Side had a great second weekend with $40.1-M, coming in at No. 2 just behind New Moon. The two movies propelled Hollywood to record revenues over the five-day Thanksgiving period. Wednesday-to-Sunday receipts came in at an estimated $278-M, according to Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

That surpassed the previous Thanksgiving record of $244.4-M set in 2000, when Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Unbreakable topped the box-office.

New wide releases had so-so results. Disney’s family comedy Old Dogs, starring Robin Williams and John Travolta as single guys forced to mind seven-year-old twins one of them never knew he had fathered, came in at No. 4 with $16.8-M for the three-day weekend.

The Warner Bros. action tale Ninja Assassin opened at No. 6 with $13.1-M. The movie features Rain and Naomie Harris in a thriller about a hit man on the run from his assassination clan.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, the 20th Century Fox animated comedy with a voice cast led by George Clooney, expanded to nationwide release and pulled in $7-M to finish at No. 9.

While the weekend haul for New Moon dropped steeply from the movie’s $142.8-M opening, The Blind Side actually went up from its $34.1-M first weekend.

New Moon raised its domestic total to $230.7-M after just 10 days. That’s nearly $40-M more than the first movie, last year’s Twilight, took in during its entire 20-week run.

The Twilight movies star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s books about teen heartache among a school girl, a vampire and a werewolf.

The Blind Side lifted its 10-day total to $100.3-M and has generated Academy Awards buzz for Bullock.