Will 'Eclipse' Beat 'New Moon' At The Box Office?

From the woods of Forks, Washington, to the executive suites of Summit Entertainment, all involved in "Eclipse" have to be applauding their efforts on the third installment of the "Twilight" franchise. The film opened to the largest six-day haul of any movie this year — $175.3 million — after getting a jump on the Fourth of July weekend with a Wednesday release.


Yet that applause is surely tempered somewhat, as "Eclipse" failed to out-gross "New Moon," its series predecessor, which opened last fall with $178.9 million in box-office receipts over six days. While there can be no exact comparisons between the initial performances of each film, since "New Moon" opened on Friday, all eyes are going to focus on the ultimate question: Will "Eclipse" defeat "New Moon" at the box office?

"It has a real shot at beating 'New Moon,' and that's after 'New Moon' set the bar so high," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com's box-office division. " 'Twilight' fever is so intense that it burns bright at the front, and then it inevitably slows down. But the movie has good word of mouth, and it should hang in there."

"New Moon" finished up its theatrical run with $296.6 million, and as Box Office Mojo points out, 48 percent of that total came on its opening weekend, making it the most front-loaded blockbuster ever. What that means is Twilighters hit theaters early — and, in many cases, often — and "New Moon" simply couldn't sustain its audience enough to crack the upper echelon of all-time top-grossing flicks (it dropped a staggering 70 percent in its second weekend). Similarly, fans came out in droves for "Eclipse," and it remains to be seen if the film can avoid such a precipitous second-weekend fall.

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Source: MTV News