New Moon Breaks Box Office Records Due to Female Demographic
Courtesy of Summit Entertainment
New Moon broke records this weekend with “worldwide opening total of $258.8 million,” and it can all be attributed to an often overlooked demographic when it comes to blockbuster hits — the female market. Predictably, New Moon audiences were approximately 80% female, but what a driving force it turned out to be. Variety reports.
“New Moon” — grossing nearly double “Twilight’s” $69.6 million debut a year ago — began breaking records not long after it unspooled at 12:01 a.m. Friday, securing itself a spot in the pantheon of hit franchise pics and marking a huge victory for Summit.
Sequel grossed $26.3 million in midnight runs, besting record-holder “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” ($22.2 million).
Full Friday number clocked in at $72.7 million — including midnight grosses — the best opening day in history and beating the $67.2 million earned by “Dark Knight” on its first Friday.
Heading into the weekend, rival studios believed “New Moon” would have trouble going north of $110 million, since it is driven by only two out of four quadrants of the moviegoing audience: Females under 25, and those over. Even Summit execs might have agreed.
But the ferocious appetite for the franchise among girls and younger women proved those predictions wrong. Of the females turning out, a full 50% were under 21.
“This blew away a lot of preconceived notions about who you should play to, and how you get to a certain group,” Summit prexy of distribution Richie Fay said.
Despite Friday’s huge numbers, “New Moon” declined only about 41% on Saturday, the same drop “Twilight” had seen. That indicates that the fanbase has grown, since “New Moon” did so much more for the weekend. As in the U.S., “New Moon” is shining overseas, outgunning or matching franchises.
For years, studios have relied on fanboy-driven films or families for big opening grosses. Thanks to long lives, female properties can ultimately see big grosses; they just haven’t opened so big.
“Twilight” cumed $192.8 million domestically and $192.2 million at the foreign B.O. for a worldwide total of $385 million. All eyes will be on “New Moon” to see by how much it might eclipse that total.
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November 24th, 2009 at 6:26 am
I feel like they should release the numbers of how many people actually attended the movie. Because the price of tickets has definitely gone up over the years, and I think it’d be interesting to see if New Moon had more attendance on opening weekend than previous movies.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Hi, Ms. Lorna!
I’ve been visiting your blog since the conception of RobSten. <;
Well, I sort of anticipated this news… it's not surprising at all. RobSten are so great in the first film, much more in New Moon. Dang, I cried… it was awesome.
November 24th, 2009 at 7:05 am
Hi Kelley. Maybe the number can be estimated by dividing the gross with the average ticket cost.
And chin, thanks so much for visiting all the time.
November 24th, 2009 at 7:38 am
@Kelley: I think those numbers are without the inflation.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:59 am
all i know i was one of them ,one of the girls waiting to see new moon …. all worth it ..