New Moon is the biggest opening day earner!(Updated)

Figures are still scratchy but early reports are showing that New Moon has beaten the record set by The Dark Knight two years ago for the Biggest Friday/Single Day Opening.

According to Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily, New Moon debuted to around $80 million from 4,024 North American Theaters. This already includes the $26.3 million the film has earned from midnight screenings. This new record shatters the old record held by the Dark Knight two years ago when it earned $67 million in one day. New Moon has also beaten this year’s best opening day record of $58 million set by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

However, Hollywood insiders are expecting a big drop on Saturday and Sunday based on the previous performance of the first film, Twilight and with the many fans that have already seen it at the midnight screenings. Nonetheless, insiders are saying that New Mooon is on track for a massive $135 million weekend. This wont shatter the record held still by The Dark Knight at $158.4M and second place Spider-Man 3 at $151.1M. But it threatens the record of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at $135.1 M.

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Update: Summit has released news that New Moon officially earned $72.7M on the first day of release from 4,024 theaters. It has officially broken the previous record of $67M set by The Dark Knight. However, Hollywood insiders are tracking the film to make only around $125M over the weekend due to an expected big drop of viewership over the weekend. This will not threaten the record of POTC 3 as previously mentioned but may target the record set by Shrek 3 of $121.6M.

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