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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM, 8TH UPDATE: Oh sure, you’re too cool (or too male) for the Twilight Saga global phenom. But Summit Entertainment’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 is shattering the four-month-old North American box office slump and shooting the overall moviegoing weekend of $222 million up +14% from last year’s total. Hollywood should be grateful to females young and old for keeping the business buoyed this weekend now that young males have abandoned indiscriminate moviegoing. (Seriously, give thanks early.)
Here is the Top 10 rundown. Full analysis later:
1. Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Summit) NEW [4,061 Theaters]
Friday $72M, Saturday $40.7M, Weekend $139.5M
Yowza! Summit Entertainment was cautiously optimistic that this fourth Twilight Saga installment Breaking Dawn Part 1 could break records. It recorded the 5th best opening weekend of all time, the 3rd best-ever Single Day and Friday opening, and the 2nd best midnight debut. Despite director Bill Condon receiving the worst reviews of the franchise, audiences gave it a ‘B+’ CinemaScore, with females bestowing an ‘A-’. Also, the penultimate pic based on Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance novels soared internationally as it rolled out in 54 markets around the globe with $144M from Wednesday through Sunday screenings. The global total is now $283.5M. This installment had a budget of $110M budget, the buggest of the franchise. The fact that Breaking Dawn couldn’t exceed New Moon‘s numbers ($142.8M domestic, $296.6M global) isn’t dampening Summit’s relief one bit. Given the dismal state of box office for the past four months, the studio saw that its Twilight Saga is as popular as ever, grossing over $1 billion in international alone to date.
2. Happy Feet Two (Warner Bros) NEW [3,606 Theaters]
Friday $5.9M, Saturday $9.3M, Weekend $22M
Given how well family fare is doing at the North American box office these days, the real test for this 3D sequel to George Miller’s beloved 2D toon will be over Thanksgiving weekend. But for now Happy Feet Two is grossing only half of the 2006 original, which opened to a $41.5 weekend. “One word: disaster. Despite being in 3D,” a rival studio exec snarked to me. But another noted, “No doubt all the families are waiting until next week to go to the movies.” Pic released on the anniversary of the original and received a ‘B+’ CinemaScore from audiences. Hollywood expected an opening in the high $30sM. Nope. Not even close. And next week The Muppets movie debuts so more competition for the tots and their parents. On the other hand, singing and dancing CGI penguins are hard to resist.
3. Immortals (Relativity) Week 2 [3,120 Theaters]
Friday $3.8M, Saturday $5.1M, Weekend $12.2M (-62%), Cume $52.9M
That’s an unfortunate drop for a 300-clone that underperformed last Friday. Immortals is not the Hail Mary that Relativity hoped it would be.
4. Jack And Jill (Sony) Week 2 [3,438 Theaters]
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $5.2M, Weekend $12M (-52%), Cume $41M
This Jack And Jill won’t have the usual gazillion multiple of most of Adam Sandler/Happy Madison comedies.
5. Puss In Boots (DreamWorks Animation/Par) Week 4 [3,415 Theaters]
Friday $2.5M, Saturday $5M, Weekend $10.7M, Cume $122.3M
This toon cat Puss In Boots still has a few more than nine lives left.
6. Tower Heist (Universal) Week 3 [2,942 Theaters]
Friday $2.1M, Saturday $3.2M, Weekend $6.9M, Cume $53.3M
7. J. Edgar (Warner Bros) Week 2 [1,947 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M (-57%), Saturday $2.6M, Weekend $5.9M (-47%), Cume $20.6M
8. Harold & Kumar 3D Xmas (NL/Warner Bros) Week 3 [1,808 Theaters]
Friday $915K, Saturday $1.2M, Estimated Weekend $2.9M, Cume $28.3M
9. In Time (Fox) Week 3 [2,591 Theaters]
Friday $520K, Saturday $750K, Estimated Weekend $1.6M, Estimated Cume $33.4M
10. The Descendants (Fox Searchlight) NEW (opened Wed) [29 Theaters]
Friday $318K, Saturday $493K, Weekend $1.2M, Cume $1.3M
Alexander Payne’s dramedy starring George Clooney had good momentum heading into its opening weekend expansion into 11 additional markets (including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, San Diego, Denver, Minneapolis, and Toronto). Fox Searchlight’s The Descendants had made $79K from Wednesday and Thursday grosses at 5 theaters (2 in NY and 3 in LA) and this weekend scored an outstanding $42,150 per screen average. The production budget was $20 million with tax rebates and the Academy Awards talk should help the film perform through March. “This comedy/drama is attracting the over-30 upscale audience who is aware of the terrific reviews we have received,” a Fox Searchlight exec tells me. “And exhibition is very excited about the film after seeing it at the Show East Convention in late October.” On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, The Descendants increases to over 60 markets and about 425 theaters. “We feel the Thanksgiving Holiday is an excellent time to be playing wider as it is counter programming to the 3 wide kids films opening on this date. At Searchlight, we fell it really is a marathon and not a race with our releases.”
The initial marketing campaign was launched virally in early May with a web teaser called “Who is he?” which consisted only of a scene from the film with George Clooney goofily running to his neighbor’s house to ask – you guessed it – “Who is he?” Then, at the end of May, Searchlight launched The Descendants trailer on The Tree Of Life linking auteur filmmakers Alexander Payne and Terrence Malick and continued through the summer and into the fall. The film was an audience and critical favorite when it premiered at the 2011 Telluride Film Festival, and the buzz carried over into The Toronto Film Festival. The film went on to play over 15 more festivals including New York and London. Searchlight is now working with various museums and film societies across the county to set Alexander Payne retrospectives and to target urban art house cinefiles initially and eventually upscale suburbanites over Thanksgiving and through December.
The project was developed with Ad Hominem, which is Payne’s and writer/producer Jim Taylor’s and producer Jim Burke’s production company. (OSCARS: Jim Burke & Jim Taylor Give Birth To Alexander Payne’s ‘The Descendants’) Stephen Frears was initially attached to direct. When Frears departed, Payne went back to the original book written by Kaui Hart Hemmings and began writing his own adaptation of the screenplay after original drafts were penned by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon. Payne flew to 2009′s Toronto Film Festival to meet with Clooney who was there for Up In The Air. The Oscar buzz began with the sellouts of the special screenings and tribute to George Clooney at Telluride.
FRIDAY 5 PM, 4TH UPDATE: Summit Entertainment sources tell me that Breaking Dawn Part 1 is softening slightly tonight for a $70 million opening day. So now this fourth Twilight Saga feature is targeting $135M for its debut weekend. That will be the 2nd biggest weekend debut since the studio began making Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance novels into films — behind only the Twilight sequel New Moon‘s $142.8M. That’s about halfway between what Summit lowballed and what rival studios highballed Breaking Dawn‘s grosses would be. Stay tuned for more updates…
FRIDAY 2:30 PM, 3RD UPDATE: Summit Entertainment’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 is shattering Hollywood’s box office slump today. My sources say this fourth film version of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga vampire novels is looking at opening to $72+ million in North American grosses, consisting of $42+M for matinee and evening screenings in 4,061 theaters, plus $30.25M for 12:01 PM post-midnight showings in 3,521 locations. Right now Breaking Dawn may wind up with the franchise best one-day and Friday opening, surging past Twilight‘s $36M, New Moon‘s $72.7M, and Eclipse‘s $68.5M. Stay tuned for more updates.
FRIDAY 9:30 AM, 2ND UPDATE: Critics may be ravaging Summit Entertainment’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 but the fans are loving it. Overnight, the film version of the Stephenie Meyer novel made $30.25M from 12:01 AM post-midnight showings in a whopping 3,521 theaters. That’s a best for the Twilight Saga franchise (Twilight made 7.5M which set a record at that time, New Moon $26.3M, and Eclipse $30.1M.) But it also sets the #2 all-time midnights record behind Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2.
FRIDAY 7 AM UPDATE: Here we go again. Not only is Summit Entertainment’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 helping surge the North American box office today after a months-lasting slump. But it’s also a big shot in the arm to international ticket sales. The Twilight Saga film franchise’s fourth installment rolled out after 12:01 AM into a whopping 3,251 domestic theaters and then expanded into 4,061 theaters by midday. And the film is off to a great start internationally as it started its roll out in 54 markets around the globe with Wednesday screenings from select territories totalling $8.9 million with many more countries, data and their grosses to come over the coming days. I’ve learned that an internal Summit Entertainment estimate puts this weekend’s domestic opening of Breaking Dawn Part 1 at $110 million to $125 million. That will be the 2nd biggest weekend debut since the studio began making Stephenie Meyer’s vampire romance novels into films — behind only the Twilight sequel New Moon. However, rival studios think Summit is lowballing and expect Breaking Dawn to debut to $142+M. And remember this is a female-driven 2D movie. It’s the 3D fanboy-driven movies that have been so hurt by slumping box office of late.
Since the franchise began, Twilight opened domestically to $69.6M in 2008, New Moon to $142.8M in 2009, Eclipse to $64.8M in 2010. Summit projected in an investor prospectus obtained by every showbiz media outlet that it would make $228 profit from Breaking Dawn, and that the final back to back films in the franchise would generate more than $1.2 billion in revenues and $447 million in profits for the studio and its investors. Yowza!
Also rolling out this weekend into 3,606 theaters, with 2,800 3D screens, is Warner Bros family fare Happy Feet Two. The sequel also from director George Miller is releasing on the anniversary of the original, which grossed $41.5M in 2D on November 17 of 2006. “This Happy Feet Two feels like it will have to work to get to that figure despite being in 3D,” a rival studio exec tells me. Hollywood expects a weekend opening in the high $30sM which is good enough in these slumping times. “The strong schedule of family films this past summer gave us an ideal launch for the campaign, starting with a teaser trailer on Kung Fu Panda on Memorial Day weekend, and playing through on films ranging from Harry Potter to Smurfs, with the main trailer debuting in the fall, culminating with a placement on Puss In Boots,” a Warner Bros exec tells me.
Already, domestic pre-sales show that Breaking Dawn Part 1 has jumped onto MovieTickets.com’s highest advance seller list, ranking 5th among the Top 5 — ahead of The Twilight Saga’s last installment Eclipse but behind Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1. In anticipation of the increased sales for Breaking Dawn‘s release, MovieTickets.com said it grew its theatre chain group count to 244 this week, and now sells tickets for over 17,400 movie screens.) Joel Cohen, CEO of MovieTickets.com, stated, “The success of The Twilight Saga and the trends we saw from advance ticket sales of the most recent film is phenomenal. The fans who have supported this franchise from the beginning show no signs of walking away from what we know will continue to be a record-breaking movie going event.” The net production budget for Breaking Dawn Part 1, after tax rebates and such, is $110 million. Costs were held down because parts 1 and 2 were made back-to-back by Summit. But the director of both pictures, Bill Condon, is not receiving anywhere near the generally good reviews of the previous Twilight Saga movies.
Overseas, the Twilight Saga films have grossed over $1 billion coming into this latest release. Twilight grossed $200M, New Moon more than doubled its predecessor with $416M, and Eclipse is just shy of crossing the $400M mark. The breakdown of territories releasing this weekend is as follows: Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Argentina, Bahrain, Bolivia, Chile, CIS, Croatia, Czech, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, UAE, Ukraine, Aruba, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, West Indies, UK. Germany releases on November 24th, South Korea on December 1st, and Japan on February 25th.
Chronologically, the international rollout started Wednesday with Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland. Thursday with Australia, Argentina, Bahrain, Bolivia, Chile, CIS, Croatia, Czech, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, UAE, Ukraine. Friday with Aruba, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, West Indies, UK as well as Canada and the U.S. (Previous: YIKES! Twilight Fans Already Lining Up For ‘Breaking Dawn′ Premiere)
On Wednesday, Breaking Dawn Part 1 opened #1 in France grossing $3.83M for its opening day. The film dethroned the highly popular French comedy Intouchables ahead also of the hugely popular Tintin 3D. It is the third highest opening result for this year in France. Summit said the film is performing very well across the country in all provinces, and first screenings at the Le Grand Rex theater in Paris was sold out. In Australia, midnight screenings were huge with $1.27M. In Italy, it opened #1 with box office of $2.3M. In Belgium, it made $786K which was 63.7% of all the Wednesday film business in that country. Breaking Dawn Part 1 dethroned hometown boy Tintin 3D. This is especially notable considering the fact that, unlike Eclipse’s opening, it was not during a summer or holiday period. In Sweden, the film reported box office of $757K.
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Nice way to spin the truth. In France, Twilight 4 is already far behind Twilight 3 and Twilight 2.
It won’t surpass the most successful entry, New Moon. Summit Entertainment made a big mistake splitting the book.
Yeah, big mistake . . . they took a huge money train of a series, and turned the last book into TWO sure to be massive grossing movies. Yeah, big mistake. Dumbass.
yeah right.
what an incredibly stupid comment from STN
bring on such a BIG MISTAKE to any of our careers!
Absolutely right….
If you read the books, you’d know that they are not going be able to make one movie of Breaking Dawn…You can barely get Summit to squeeze out 2 hrs, let alone 4 to 6 hrs to cover the whole book…
Yeah, you’re sooooo right. It was a huge failure for Harry Potter as well.
Stick to the mail room and maybe you’ll learn how the business works.
Ha Ha….great comeback….Lv it….
A big mistake? They will still make a lot more money overall by having 2 movies instead of one. Duh.
No Fabian, you missed the point…who cares about France? Plus all of Europe is bankrupt and can’t afford the movies. Wee wee.
Why does this board always sound like nasty high school chatter?
Cause most of the people who watch this stuff have NO CLASS.
Because Hollywood is just high school with $$$.
Snarking is what the Internet is all about. We’ve created a generation of cynics who prefer destruction to creation, and criticism to support. The safety of anonymity makes everyone a spiteful critic, because only real extremes will make you stand out from the daily morass of user generated mass communication. Next time you’re about to write something nasty about a film, think about the hundreds of people who’ve worked on it, and the many thousands of livelihoods that depend on it. And instead of trashing it for the purposes of getting anonymous online glory, maybe offer a balanced view of the picture. It may sound hideously naive, but instead of edging ever closer to darkness, let’s try to make the world a nicer place.
Well said. It’s easy to tear something or someone down. The harder thing — the more important thing — is to make something.
Glad Jack & Jill is tanking, maybe the Adam Sandler run is coming to a close.
Good to know lack of taste is universal.
4.0 out of 10 rating in IMDB and going down fast. There might be hope that people will avoid this POS movie.
I don’t know why people pay for this in the first place.
I loved it but could have been wowed totally if they had used a better director. Some of the effects didn’t make the standard of quality we’ve seen in past movies. The red and echoing voices were a little cheesy for the wolves…and for sure I was sad to see the Volturi not looking quite as royal as we have seen in the past, but overall the story moved along a fast pace and leaves you wanting to see part two! I am a bit surprised Stephanie Meyer would allow her finale to this beloved series to go down in quality from Eclipse and New Moon but overall true fans like me are still going to be supportive till the end.
After emotionless Eclipse and misleading New Moon this one is excelent movie. Indeed, condon made the best film from the worst book.
Massive amount of sell outs in the U.S.
Huge weekend coming indeed
Took off work today to go with friends and grand daughter…Friday afternoon, 1:20 PM showing…The mega theatre for all the “big shows” and it was filled….So glad I bought my tkts yesterday…I am happy to announce there was total applause at the end of the movie…It was amazing…
So we’re supposed to be impressed that a bunch of lemmings applauded a fourth go-round of churning their brains into toothpaste? People wildly applaud during tapings of Oprah and The View. It doesn’t make them any less vacuous.
Says mike, as he knaws on raw chicken legs, awaiting transformers 7.
How do you know Mike is a Transformers fan? Are the only options in the world Transformers and Twilight? The fact that some terrible movies pander to young men doesn’t justify all of the terrible movies that pander to young women. The goal should be to make GOOD movies.
Twilight does suck and pointing that out is quite sensible.
No Mike, you’re not supposed to be impressed. What Linda was saying is that she enjoyed the movie, which is something we’d all like to be able to say after watching a movie. She’s expressing her opinion about the liking the movie, she didn’t say anyone else had to.
ANOTHER useful idiot for Hollywood, oops, TRASHwood.
Tom…you are so bitter. My guess is you tried to make it in Hollywood and couldn’t. It’s a tough place for sure. But God Bless this franchise. It’s success is good for so many.
I took my daughter and her friends to any early show that was packed, and a couple hundred people were lined up outside for the next showing. There was shrieking, lots of “Team Edward t-shirts, no loss of audience enthusiasm for the series that I could see.
It’s interesting that no one points out the final Harry potter was in 3D and had IMAX showings with their higher ticket prices. I wonder if the two movies are probably even in actual ticket sales for opening day.
I did actually point that out farther down this thread. And yes, with 3D tickets for Potter costing around $16 it’s a valid point — especially since the previous (non-3D) Potter flick didn’t make anywhere near as much.
It would be interesting to find out what the actual number of admissions for the final Potter flick was, and contrast that with the admissions numbers for the non-3D Twilight 4. I bet the result would be surprising.
Are movies “around” $16 in France and Italy?
no, 10 – 12 dollar.
I can’t believe I sat through parts 1-3. No way am I continuing with this dreck.
I hated the movies, too, but the curiosity will kill me. So, yeah, I’m goin. Sad but true. haha
Just like Metallica sang so angstfully.
My wife made me go to whichever one came out before this. She left pissed because apparently I kept snoring. Luckily she’s going alone this time. I wonder how much of their ticket sales come from men dragged against their will to watch this drivel…
Right here. My ex dragged me to whichever one came out last, and I still haven’t forgiven her. Why the hell the story focuses on the three least interesting characters in the series, yet only briefly touches on the cool characters like the flapper girl who got vampy revenge on the elite members of society that raped her, or the dude who was basically Bill Compton of the Twilight universe, is absolutely beyond me. Rack it up to Stephenie’s complete lack of experience I guess. There are times I miss my ex, but last night was NOT one of them, because I know she would have dragged me to that midnight mess had we still been dating.
Some of you guys sound like you need to go to therapy just because your girlfriends drug you to a Twilight film. It’s just a movie, man. Get over it.
My husband would not go, which is crap since I have to watch HOURS of junk I would rather not to spend time with him. It was his decsion though, I didn’t get my gun out a force him. Is that what happened to you guys? Some of the comments here are made by self-centered people and this really proves it. Or people intimadated by the thought of a man who can make a girl melt with just an intense and intimate stare. Of course it would be a vampire, what REAL man is capable of that?!?!?
I wasn’t pissed until I started reading lamebird comments from some bent out of shape guys. I was on this site to see what intelligent people thought about the gross from this movie.
Unfortunately, we don’t get over it. Chick flicks are called that for a reason. If you don’t like it, go and date a gay guy.
Get over it,
Fluoric
seriously, if you were in a healthy relationship you’d sit through two hours of drivel to make her happy. I think your relationship problems are far more deeply rooted than a simple screening of a bad film.
That aside, this film is good for the business side but bad for art side. meh…
Hahahaha, I love it when Twilight fans say “its just a movie”. If it really is just that then why do all you freaks obsess over it every time a new one comes out. I mean good god it’s been 3 years now and you people are as nutty about this one as the first one. So don’t say it’s just a movie, unless you treat it as such as well.
I don’t mind chick flicks, to be honest, as I was raised by 4 older sisters and Steel Magnolias and Beaches might as well have been on permanent repeat in the living room, but the entire Twilight series is complete drivel, from the story to the characters to much of the acting. Sorry to smash your fantasy world Tera, but there is nothing real or manly about the two main men. The clothing-impaired wolf-boy is more emotional than my chemically-imbalanced sister during her emo years, and the geriatric pedophilic disco ball masquerading around as the hero of the story belongs on a Halloween edition of “To Catch a Predator,” and not the center of cinema’s least interesting love triangle of the last decade.
Get over it? The chicks on this board are clueless anyways. Don’t waste your breath. Let them have their romantic fantasies, then they won’t bother us.
I blame it on Stephenie not being able to spell her own damn name. She’s laughing all the way to the bank though.
As long as you continue to wear a ring in your nose, then it will not stop.
Seriously, if you have to drag/be dragged to see a movie by your SO, what kind of healthy relationship is that? Ever heard of seeing a movie you want to see by yourself? Last I heard, just because one is dating/married doesn’t mean you’re joined at the hip. Sheesh..:P
I think that is the case for a lot of people. This movie will under perform number 2 and 3.
Worst of the series. Awful. No more vampires. No more werewolves.
I have a new idea. Let’s base a movie on a script.
No vampire no werewolves. lol this is the first time in the twiliht movie you could vmpires sucking blood , drinking blood etc. The first part of the book has no actions anyway but Bill Condon did the best he could . And you have the battle scene between the vampireS and the werewolves This is movie is by far the favorite of the fans.
Why the negativity? Considering how the box office has been so lackluster these past months, people should be happy that a movie is getting people into theatres again.
Because I care more about a good movie than making millions on drivel.
I think the point sue was getting at was successful movies of all kinds for all kinds of people keep the price down at the theaters. Take away films below 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, and many theaters would close, and you would probably be paying $20 to see your good films. Twilight’s success is a success for anyone who wants to see movies in theaters.
You are not alone…
I saw the first Twilight film on a flight to Europe, and had to watch it a second time trying to figure out why ANYONE would pay money to see such a train wreck. Needless to say I haven’t been able to even watch so much as a preview from any of the other films that followed.
Truthteller, you are not alone. My girlfriend watches these movies for the “romance storyline” but I turned away after seeing the vampires in the first movie existing during daylight hours. She actually tried to beg me to see this installment with her because of the wedding. Didn’t work….she went to a early afternoon showing today and I went to see Immortals in 3D.
If only Relativity paid the writers on their films as much as they pay for marketing peons to spin spin spin. Maybe then their movies wouldn’t be such crap and Relativity wouldn’t have to spin so much?
The object is NOT to make a good movie, the object is to make money, this isn’t 1930′s anymore. Making money on movies like this enables smaller quality movies to be made.
What might be crap to someone might be great entertainment to another. As long as it makes money who cares.
>Making money on movies like this enables smaller quality movies to be made
Really? Trickle down? Does profit from this stuff pay for good films, or does profit from this stuff just endlessly pay-off the losses from other awful stuff like “Red Riding Hood” and other disasters? I used to believe in trickle down. It would be nice if it really worked that way.
Well then why don’t you run Michael bay out of town on a rail, and every other stupid blow em up actioner that appeals to MALES. Somehow i bet you werent lobbying Hollywood to shut down the transformer franchise, were you?? Females put up with guys’ dumb ass Steven seagull,Stallone, transformer, Brett ratner type crap out of hollywood for YEARS letting you idiots have your stupid fun. But just once, ONCE, when the women have a chance to get what they want and also kick ass and take names box office wise, you lame crybabies start b*tching and moaning…what a wuss.
Wow, bleeding much? There are plenty of us guys who think Michael Bay, Segal, Stallone, Ratner, et al are talentless hacks who should be chased out of Hollywood with torches and pitchforks. Enjoying stupid blow-em-up crap isn’t a “MALE” thing, it’s an “idiot” thing- bad taste in entertainment isn’t keyed to chromosomes.
As for Twilight, walking through the mall the other night I saw the midnight screening lineup for it and was honestly shocked by the make-up of the crowd- people who I’d have thought would have outgrown this tripe ages ago, lined up to see a “brooding” vampire and his co-dependent mess of a girlfriend and Taylor Lautner shirtless. That last one, I’ll confess, I’m into, but not enough to shell out theater admission; I’m sure he’ll look as good on the Movie Network in 8 or 9 months, and if I PVR it I can skip all the other crap.
But aren’t all the 300# Bellas awesome? The acne faced Edwards and the shoulder padded Jacobs? Now that was mean of me wasn’t it ?And here I admonish those who are? But seriously folks? How do you expect your favorite movies to be taken “seriously” when you come out in public like that???
In regards to testosterone fueled movies….Some of them are not that bad….There is something for everybody and I think that is what the voices in my head have been trying to get me to convey today…Stop dissing “other peoples” favortie movies just because they are not yours…..
“Torches and Pitch Forks? Nice touch….lol
Hear, HEAR!!! YES! I would rather poke my own eys out and eat them then watch 5 mins of Rambo or Rocky. This ia about the high success of all the Twilight movies. Sorry for those with no imagination, go watch Rambo and leave us be.
What does Twilight have to do with imagination?
Umm.. have you watched the original Rocky??
That was a GREAT film.
Hey Krazie Joe….This is called the entertainment business. Maybe you can get your “good movie” funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Congratulations to everyone at Summit!
If you are not a fan of Twilight than it is obvious you will not like the movie. Go watch something else.
I am a HUGE fan but there were some akward moments in the film. At times the scenes dragged on, like Bella watching herself in the mirror before and after the honeymoon.
Regardless, I loved Part 1 of Breaking Dawn. Wish I didn’t have to wait a whole year to watch Part 2.
My guess is the majority of these movie snobs don’t work in the industry and use DHD as just another venue to spew forth their complaints. I’m not a fan of the content of these movies, but I’m a fan of any movie that gets young people excited about going to the movies. I think it was James Cameron or Spielberg who said when a movie does well, all boats rise. We want people to enjoy these event movies, even if it’s not personally our thing.
These people complaining about the Twilight series don’t REALLY dislike it. If they did they wouldn’t watch it.
I’m curious to see how this does. I’ve admitted before that I’m a fan of the books, but not the movies. There has been a big decrease in interest in these films with the “moms” especially.
One part of it is the huge span of time in between the Eclipse, BDPt1, and BDPt2. Summit should’ve cranked these out fast and furious.
The weird thing is that all of our local theaters STILL have tickets for tonight’s midnight showing. With Eclipse, those were sold out weeks ahead.
I hope I’m wrong because it’s always fun to see a movie do big box office numbers. With the amount of people camped out for the premiere, it clearly is a still a big deal, so I’m sure it’ll still do just fine.
Usually people with a smidgeon of discerning taste say they’re fans of the movies not the books. Meyer is an awful writer, and yet the casting and the jump off hardwicke gave the first film, actually presented a compelling love story.
‘ The weird thing,’ you describe of tix being avail on Thursday, is not so weird when you consider for the first time, some of the multiplexes on late night Thursday were showing it in all 20 theaters. Unprecedented. They needed every one of them too.
Yeah it will. Do just fine. No SH sherlock. Lol
Sorry, “Hmmmmm”, but in my humble opinion the screeplays are FAR worse than the books. Maybe my imagination is just good because what I envisioned for this story was FAR better in my head than what wound up on the big screen.
I agree with you, Cali. While Meyer’s not a terrific writer, Rosenberg took weak source material and made it even worse. Everything about the movies is dreadful. Like you said, at least with books you can use your imagination to make things better.
…and yet…you’ve seen all of the movies. Go figure.
I think some of the goodwill has waned after the first Twilight when Summit churned out terrible sequels with New Moon and Eclipse. A lot of faith from the fanbase was lost. Hopefully even if Breaking Dawn does not break records it will have longevity through good fan response with the series going back to its romantic roots.
I’ll be the first to admit how wrong I was to think there was a chance that the interest had waned! Congrats to Summit!
I’ve seen the movie and it is the worst of the series. There were so many beyond ridicules scenes. There’s one paticularly bad scene with the werewolves. Still’ it’ll be a huge it. Probably In the same range as new moon.
Kudos to the sellout director!
Yes! Yes! Yes! OMG, Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is absolutely incredible! I can’t wait for Part 2! MORE MORE MORE!!!! Don’t ever stop making Twilight movies! They’ve never been better…never! Never better! Woooo!
Silly boys, you know men when it comes to Twilight, they become such little babies!
I love the Twilight series! Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was amazing!
Oh, God, the only thing that’s going through my head to describe this movie, it’s like sex with an orgasm at the end of it!
Vergara, your right. The one thing we don’t have to fake, enjoying a long Twilight movie. It last onger then 5 min. and we get enjoyment out of it!
Frigid and sexually unhappy much?
I have such a seething hatred for the retardedness of 3D, I now root for all 2D movies.
Go Twilight Go!
After the huge disappointment that were New Moon and Eclipse i didn’t want to see this Breaking Dawn and wasn’t excited at all. I went today because two of my friends were dying to see it. Best movie of the twilight saga so far. Bill Condon totally got it , the spirit is there and the actors are more comfortable and more natural playing their characters. Beautiful movie noit perfect but that’s the best i could expect from that part of the book. Planning to go see it alone tomorrow.
I’m the same, though I didn’t love it as much as you. I haven’t read the books but enjoyed the first movie a lot. I thought it was a big guilty pleasure and really sweet. The second and third didn’t do it for me. They were fine, but a letdown. I had low expectations for this and expected another sequel that didn’t live up to the promise of the first, and while I didn’t LOVE it I am happy to say that I was wrong and it’s actually the best since the first. I’m more of a fan of the romance aspect than the action one, so I enjoyed this a lot more.
I saw the movie. The best parts are the honeymoon, the wedding and the birth. The weakest parts involve Jacob and the wolves. Overall, the fans should be happy.
I predict a 75% drop in the 2nd weekend!
And this is based on your….? Oh yes, your EXPERIENCE. Right, that’s it.
You’re so right! How dare wfr post his or her opinion in the comment section of an online blog!?!?
He’s probably basing it on fact because, uh, Twilight movies tend to drop like a rock in their secobnd weekends.
Nope. New moon and Eclipse were awful movies and that’s the reason why they did “drop like a rock”. But the first one – Twilight – had great legs.
i predict 100% fall off! nay, 110%! summit will begin issuing refunds!
I love how Finke tried to make the surprising big box office of Immortals last week into a flop. It was 3D it looked like it would be crap imo it was fanboy movie and it far far exceeded expectations. The whole “3D is dead” flame on this site is unwarranted in its severity
Good to see the Twilight saga outperforming most fanboy crap coming out in summer. I personally dished out money for worthless junk like Captain America and Green Hornet besides others and left the cinema disgusted at the dismal quality of the movies. At least the fangirls are getting their wishes.
Dismal quality? What Twilight proves that fangirls are just as desperate, shallow, and even more abysmal than the average fanboy. At least Captain America was a good movie. This whole franchise is just one s**t stain of cinema.
Captain America was a complete waste of time, one long trailer to another douche movie, the Avengers.
I am sensing an ever-so-subtle lack of tact from some of the participants on this thread.
Cause the Twilight movies are quality? lol. And this is coming from a girl in her 20s.
new moon gost wretched reviews btw. the new york times has given bill condon a thumbs up. who the hell knows why.
but overall i think the films are sweet. and they show hollywood that there’s this huge demo that’s been ignored for ages. and once breaking dawn 2 is released this demo will be long forgotten until summitt re-boots the series.
Arclight SO had it in 8 theaters last night …All Sold out. Edwards Valencia had it in 8 theaters, including the IMAX, all sold out. The box office will be as big as the fan base, which is HUGE!! Yay!
I have to say that while the acting was much better in this one, the honeymoon scene and gore were OFF THE CHARTS for a PG13! Considering the first movie also received the same rating, after cooling down a “too steamy” kissing scene. YIKES! I can’t believe this movie was created for young teenagers. Parents, if you think your kids are too young for the “sex talk” or if you haven’t talked to them about it yet, be warned, there will be NO QUESTION in their minds what sex is when they finish this movie! It was incredibly uncomfortable to sit in a theater with so many young teens during the several minute long sex scene! I wonder if ticket sales will drop after parents catch on that this is SO not appropriate for young kids and certainly should have been rated R!
Just like any movie, it is the parent’s job to make sure it is age apprpriate for there children. Let them worry about their one kids.
An “R” rating is way too extreme. Don’t think these teens haven’t seen worse already, and I’ve certainly seen worse in PG-13 movies. And don’t think they haven’t read the books already. I honestly expected the sex scenes to be steamier from all of the buzz about it.
Um.
I take it you’ve lived in a cave for the last 30 years.
Teenagers today probably know more about sex than you do – and have seen – and done more – than you did before you were 30 years old.
“They’ll have no question in their minds what sex is…”? REALLY?!?
Do you think they didn’t before they saw a movie???? What DECADE are you living in? My God. LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
I don’t think they’re lowballing. The first half of Breaking Dawn is woefully void of action, and is really the low-point of the entire series in terms of drama. I predict a drop of at least 70% from Weekend 1 to Weekend 2.
That huge a drop-off even though next week is the Thanksgiving holiday? Didn’t the second one get released during that same stretch, and what kind of drop did it experience?
I do wonder how somebody like Bill Condon got the job to do this flick. Can’t wait for David Fincher’s COUNT CHOCULA TRILOGY!
“Didn’t the second one get released during that same stretch, and what kind of drop did it experience?”
Uh… it dropped 70%.
I want you all to know that I will be attending. Alert the media. Thanks for your interest in advance.
I watched the final 10 minutes of the film on YouTube last night. That’s about 10 minutes more than I needed to see. The makeup, the acting, the script…everything was a complete and utter fail.
People like you are ripping off the ones who are not slIMMY and actually PAY to see a movie, so your opinion means nothing. That is like admitting to reading the last page and wondering what the rest of the book meant, pretty lame.
Oh yes, I’m sure the rest of the 2 or so hours I didn’t watch were filled with Oscar-worthy performances. I’m also sure the review ripping on how awful the movie was are completely off base as well. Get the fuck over yourself.
First place…you can never put everything that is in a book into a movie, it is impossible unless you think your going to sit through a 6 hr movie…Second of all Breaking Dawn was the longest book of the series…How the heck are you going to put all that into one movie? That is ridiculous…
Instead of people going with the intent of seeing the whole book play out on the screen, just go and enjoy some of your favorite moments from the book…If you didn’t like the books, why the heck are you going to spend 10$+ going to see the movie…
I do agree that Summit should not of waited a whole year to release BD2…I think that will bite them on the butt….Hopefully not…
In regards to critics…I don’t know why they continue to exist…They are seldom if ever biased and I would most definetly not choose any movie on what they have to say…If you truly read what they say, you wonder if they ever saw the same movie you did, so I quit reading their mumbo jumbo years ago..
I totally agree with your comments, however, I’m one of many film reviewers–borderline movie critic and just like many of the comments here, reviews and opinions of the film are subjective. Some are even potentially bias. Some critics are like political who get their pockets lined and say whatever it is the studios want them to say about their films so people would buy tickets.
However, in regards to the whole vampire/werewolves craze…its got to stop.
Why? It will run it’s course like almost everything else…But we are still plagued with moronic testosterone filled crap…that most men don’t even like…And don’t get me wrong there are some of the testosterone filled “action” movies that I have loved…The point I am making, why do the werewolves and vamps craze have to stop? If you don’t like them, don’t go…Pretty simple…
In regards to my earlier post, I continue to stand by my opinions of “critics” over all…They remind me of the old “Hollywood” system where the actors and actresses were owned by the studio system and in turn owned by the wretched gossip columinist who could ruin a career with a few careless words typed in a magazine or newspaper….They are no better today, and the sad part is that the moronic public will follow what they say. They will follow the “haters” because they want to be apart of what they think is the popular idea, instead of thinking for themselves. All that being said, I just got back from watching BD1….Friday afternoon, work/school day…The theatre was packed, and the roar of applause at the end vindicated every opinion I have stated….It was the best of all the Twilight Saga so far…As much as I hate to wait another year for BD2, I’ll be marking the days off on my calender..
So for the haters and mean spirited people who live to slam Twilight…..I hope you find something in your life tha makes you happy and content….