This weekend could go down in history as the Fourth of July when the vampires and werewolves took over. Based on preliminary figures from Wednesday night's opening of "Eclipse,"Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the third "Twilight" movie is expected to have the best-ever midweek opening in history, with a $65 million haul.
If the numbers hold — final figures from the studio are expected later in the day — that would mean that "Eclipse" would easily beat the $62 million Wednesday opening record set by "Transformers 2" last summer. The numbers included $30 million alone from 12:01 a.m. and 3 a.m. screenings at more than 4,000 North American theaters. "Eclipse" already broke the record for midnight grosses, held by last year's "New Moon," which raked in $26.3 million on its opening night.
"Eclipse" also set a new record for the biggest-ever release in Hollywood history, rolling out in 4,416 domestic theaters and breaking the "Iron Man 2" record of 4,380.
Among the other records it beat, Deadline reported that "Eclipse" took in more than $1 million at 192 theaters showing the movie in the IMAX format, beating the $959,000 banked by "Transformers 2" during its Wednesday night opening. The next record in sight is the all-time biggest Fourth of July opening-weekend crown, currently held by "Spider-Man 2" at $180 million. Current projections call for "Eclipse" to come in around the $142 million range, but with strong word-of-mouth and a broader appeal to both men and women this time around, it's possible the movie could end up having an even bigger take.
Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."
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