Box Office Report: 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' Headed for $140 Mil Domestic Opening

9:10 AM PST 11/19/2011 by Pamela McClintock

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Summit Entertainment

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1"

UPDATED: The Summit pic earned a stellar $72 million Friday in North America, while it has grossed another $66 million overseas; Warner Bros.' "Happy Feet Two" got off to a slow start with $5.9 million.

Bringing the domestic box office to life, Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 grossed $72 million on Friday for a projected weekend opening in the $140 million range. Bowing day and date in 54 territories, the film has grossed another $66 million internationally.

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The Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner starrer is performing a tad behind The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which opened on the same weekend two years ago to $142.8 million after grossing $72.7 million on Friday.

Breaking Dawn scored the third biggest opening day ever after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($91.1 million) and New Moon.

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The weekend's other new wide entry, Warner Bros.' Happy Feet Two, got off to a slower-than-expected start domestically, grossing an estimated $5.9 million on Friday for a projected weekend gross of $22 million to $24 million. The 3D family toon -- which opened to half of the original Happy Feet on Friday -- hopes to make up ground during Thanksgiving week.

Both Breaking Dawn and Happy Feet Two earned B+ CinemaScores.

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At the specialty box office, Alexander Payne's George Clooney starrer The Descendants did brisk business on Friday as it expanded into 29 theaters. The comedy-drama, which opened Wednesday in five theaters, grossed $318,638 -- enough to come in No. 11 for the day. The pic's cume is $397,000.

Breaking Dawn will become only the second film this year to jump the $100 million mark in its debut after Deathly Hallows Part 2, which opened to a massive $169.2 million.

Directed by Bill Condon, Breaking Dawn began playing in 3,251 theaters at 12:01 a.m. Friday, earning $30.3 million in midnight grosses before moving into a total of 4,061 locations by mid-morning.