As a much-hyped and long- awaited sequel to the "Twilight" saga, the vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" becomes a heavy blockbuster with a projected US$140.7 million in ticket sales over the weekend, setting many firsts on its way to the top of North America box office, authorities said on Sunday.

On Friday when it debuted in theaters in Canada and the United States, "New Moon" harvested a total of US$72.7 million. This is in contrast to the first installment "Twilight" which only garnered US$35.98 million on the first day of showing last November.

As a result, the female-orientated flick not only defeated "The Dark Knight" for top notch of North America one-day box office, but also broke the midnight showing record previously held by " Harry Porter and Half Blood Prince" with US$26.3 million.

Box office specialists previously predicted that the movie will bring in US$100 million in receipt, and it turned out this prediction is too conservative.

A Summit Entertainment production and based on a series of four novels by author Stephenie Meyer, "New Moon" is directed by Chris Weitz instead of Catherine Hardwicke in the first installment. However, the movie is exceptionally faithful to the 2008 beginnings.

The romance between mortal and vampire soars to a new level as Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) delves deeper into the mysteries of the supernatural world she yearns to become part of, only to find herself in greater peril than ever before.

The cast remained basically the same. The success of the movie also originated from the big-effort promotion by Summit Entertainment that saw major actors and actresses of the film making a pitch in 15 major cities across North America.

A drama sports film about an American football player and featuring Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side" opened with a solid US$34. 5 million in estimated sales, making it the No. 2 on the chart. Before this year, Bullock had never had a US$20-million opener in her life.

The feature film is produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros.. It has received positive reviews from the critics. "Rotten Tomatoes" reported that 70 percent of critics gave positive reviews, based on 84 reviews.

"2012", last weekend's No. 1 from Sony/Columbia, fetched US$26.5 million dollars this weekend and slipped two steps to No. 3, with a combined two-week sales of US$108.2 million. The disaster saga tells what a doomsday world will look like and costs more than US$200 million to make.

Rounding out the top five of the weekend are "Planet 51 ( Animated)" by Sony, opening with US$12.6 million this weekend, and "Disney's A Christmas Carol" by Disney, with US$12.2 million this weekend and US$79.8 million over three weeks.

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