‘Twilight’ Breaking Dawn rises to $283.5M worldwide debut

The Twilight Saga has staked out another huge opening with a $139.5 million first weekend domestically and a worldwide launch of $283.5 million.

The domestic total gives The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 the second-best debut weekend for the franchise, after the $142.8 million launch for 2009’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Breaking Dawn did more than half of its business, $72 million, on opening day Friday, while the movie’s debut weekend was the fifth-best on record.

But the Warner Bros. dancing penguin sequel Happy Feet 2 stumbled in its debut, pulling in just $22 million over opening weekend. That’s barely half what the first film in the animated franchise earned in its 2006 opening.

George Clooney had a great start with Fox Searchlight’s comic drama The Descendants, which broke into the top-10 despite playing in just a handful of theatres.

Directed by Alexander Payne (Sideways), the film stars Clooney as a distressed dad tending to his daughters after his wife falls into a coma from a head injury.

The popularity of Twilight has left many men scratching their heads, even those involved in releasing the movies.

“I’m 53 years old, and I haven’t figured it out yet,” said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit. “It relates really to young girls and things that are important to them, their romantic ideas of love and relationships, without getting so physical, at least on screen, that it becomes a worry for their parents.”

Breaking Dawn has brooding teen Bella (Kristen Stewart) marrying vampire lover Edward (Robert Pattinson), whose family strikes an uneasy alliance with jealous werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) to protect the bride and the baby she’s carrying.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com were:

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1, $139.5 million ($144 million international)

2. Happy Feet 2, $22 million ($2.6 million international).

3. Immortals, $12.3 million ($11.9 million international).

4. Jack and Jill, $12 million ($1.6 million international).

5. Puss in Boots, $10.7 million ($2.4 million international).

6. Tower Heist, $7 million ($4.5 million international).

7. J. Edgar, $5.9 million.

8. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, $2.9 million.

9. In Time, $1.7 million ($4.2 million international).

10. The Descendants, $1.2 million.