New Twilight film eclipses box office rivals

The latest Twilight movie sailed past the $100 million (Dh367 million) mark during its third day at the North American box office, and was forecast to approach a record-breaking $200 million by the end of the US Independence Day holiday weekend, according to estimates issued on Saturday.

The Twilight Saga: The Eclipse, the eagerly anticipated third instalment in the vampire romance series, sold about $121.4 million worth of tickets from Wednesday to Friday, said distributor Summit Entertainment.

For the traditional Friday-Sunday portion, the privately owned studio forecast sales of $80.2 million, and a four-day total of $106.1 million with inclusion of the Monday holiday. That would take its six-day haul to $198.9 million.

If initial estimates hold, Eclipse would rank No 3 among all-time six-day openers, behind The Dark Knight ($222 million) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($215 million), according to Box Office Mojo.