Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) get married and pregnant in this installment.
Andrew Cooper/SMPSP/Summit Entertainment LLCSummit Entertainment’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1 grossed $30.3 million in midnight runs as fans rushed to see the second-to-last installment in the blockbuster franchise.
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The movie began playing in 3,251 theaters at 12:01 a.m. Friday, before moving into a total of 4,061 locations by mid-morning.
Breaking Dawn narrowly set a new franchise record, coming in slightly ahead of the $30 million earned by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in midnight runs in summer 2010, and notably ahead of the $26.3 million earned by The Twilight Saga: New Moon two years ago on the same weekend.
Until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came along this summer, the last two Twilight pics set records for best midnight performance. This summer, Deathly Hallows earned a massive $43.6 million in midnight grosses. Breaking Dawn now stands at No. 2 in terms of all-time midnight best.
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The movie’s midnight performance suggests it will have no problems matching, or even besting, the $142.8 million debut of New Moon.
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Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, Breaking Dawn was directed by Bill Condon.
As of Thursday, Breaking Dawn had already earned $8.9 million from a handful of foreign markets.
