‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ Grossed $139.5 Million in U.S. Opening Weekend

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1, the fourth movie in the film series based on Stephenie Meyer's young adult novels, grossed $283.5 million globally and $139.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, based on an estimate from distributor Summit Entertainment.

Breaking Dawn opened on top of the box office this weekend. The third installment of the epic story of Bella and Edward grossed an estimated $71.4 million just on Friday.

On the other hand, Happy Feet 2, an animated Warner Bros. sequel that also opened this weekend, made only $22 million so far, significantly less than half of its 2006 predecessor, which grossed $41.5 in a three-day open, according to BoxOffice.com.

The Twilight film series, following in the footsteps of Harry Potter, is no stranger to success. Breaking Dawn - Part 1 was the franchise's second best opening, just narrowly missing the series' previous record. New Moon, the second film, did better in 2009 grossing $142.8 million in the three-day opening weekend.

The all-time record for a three-day opening, according to Businessweek, is $169.2 million, which was grossed by the final Harry Potter film. Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is currently listed as the fifth biggest three-day opening at $139.5 million.

The first Twilight film came out in 2008, forever unleashing Twilight-mania and the careers of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, grossing $392 million worldwide. The second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, grossed more than $709 million worldwide in 2009. Its successor, Eclipse, made more than $698 million in 2010.

The final chapter in the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn - Part 2, hits theaters on Nov. 16, 2012, so Twi-hards will have to wait just under a year to see the end of the epic vampire tale.

Follow Julia Greenberg on Twitter: @julia_greenberg.

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