New Moon’s High Orbit Lifts Box Office

The Twilight Saga: New Moon remained high in the sky over the Thanksgiving holiday, leading a strong overall box office performance.

New Moon grossed $66 million in the five-day frame, bringing its domestic total to an impressive $230 million in two weeks of release. The strength of New Moon was instrumental in what one studio estimated as a 17 percent increase over last year’s holiday business.

The holiday also saw audiences flock to the Sandra Bullock drama The Blind Side, which took in $57 million and crossing the $100 million domestic gross mark.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol continued to perform well and was the weekend’s top animated feature. The film landed in fifth place, earning $22 million to bring its domestic total to $105 million.

Sony’s Planet 51 took seventh place with $14 million, doubling its domestic earnings to about $29 million.

It was followed closely by Fantastic Mr. Fox, whose wide opening on more than 2,000 screens brought in $9.5 million.

Disney’s Princess and the Frog did tremendous business on a limited two-screen run, earning a whopping $1.1 million over five days. The film is set to bow wide on Dec. 11.