*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.
Happy Independence Day everyone! I trust you ate some grilled meat, camped out on a beach for the day and saw some fireworks. I know I did. Apparently, others also went to see a movie called “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” since it topped the four day weekend with $82.5 million. Why is it a four day weekend? Couldn’t tell you. Movie people just like the fourth of July so much that any Monday that falls directly adjacent to it automatically becomes a Holiday too.
Breaking “Eclipse” down, it grossed $93 million on Wednesday and Thursday, $69 million for the traditional three day period, another $13.5 million on Monday, which all adds up to $175.3 million in six days. Catch all that? Technically, that $69 million is the weakest opening weekend figure of the series, but the film has already almost outgrossed the total of the first film, so let’s not get hung up on technicalities. Twihards came out in force and even though the film will drop precipitously from here, it will likely make its $68 million budget back just from t-shirts at Hot Topic so these grosses are almost irrelevant.
The only thing I’ll say is that “New Moon” had $186.9 million after six days and so that film’s total of $309.3 million is already out of reach, indicating that we have seen the peak of Edward and Bella’s popularity. Unless Kristen Stewart does a nude scene in “Breaking Dawn.” Or Taylor Lautner too, for that matter.