Two World Records Eclipsed by 'New Moon'

The latest vampire movie 'New Moon', a sequel to the teenage vampire movie 'Twilight' has raked in USD 26.3 million in midnight ticket sales. It had been predicted that this movie will earn the slot for the biggest opening weekends ever for a non-summer film. It is all set to earn USD 70 million in a single day. However, it expected that the sales may drop over the weekend.

The 'Twilight' sequel predicted biggest opening rumors turned out to be true and the movie broke the record for midnight ticket sales on Thursday night. The movie is expected to earn the title of the biggest single day sales ever at the box office by Friday evening.

Summit Entertainment reported on Friday morning, the gross receipts from midnight shows in U.S. and Canada has totaled to USD 26.3 million. On Friday evening, the competing studios reported that the gross earned was more than USD 70 million by the end of the day. 'The Dark Knight' released in 2008 held the previous record for single day domestic ticket sales at USD 67.2 million.

The total weekend gross for the movie will be more than USD 100 million, but it won't be a surprise if it reaches USD 120 million. It would earn 'New Moon' the record for biggest domestic weekend gross for any film this year. The ticket sales from the 25 countries where 'New Moon' is opening this weekend will bring the worldwide gross to over USD 150 million.

Summit is expected to report the official total of the ticket sales for Friday morning and the estimate for three-day weekend on Sunday. It is said half of the earnings from the theatrical ticket sales will go to Summit.