With America getting into the holiday spirit for yesterday’s festival of Thanksgiving, cinemagoers largely shrugged off a trio of new family films in favour of the latest instalment of the ongoing Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn - Part 1 .
Wednesday saw the arrival of three new family-friendly releases in the shape of Arthur Christmas , Happy Feet 2 and The Muppets , but all three were dwarfed by the ongoing success of Breaking Dawn which took an estimated $12.5m on Thanksgiving Eve.
The Muppets managed $6.6m in second spot, with Happy Feet 2 netting just under $3m. Arthur Christmas brought up the rear with just $2.4m.
Projections for the Thanksgiving weekend have Breaking Dawn raking in an overall sum of around $55m, a figure that would push its ten-day take to a staggering $215m. The Muppets is also expected to do brisk trade over the weekend, with takings of close to $45m forecast.
It might have reviewed terribly across the board, but in terms of bums on seats, Twilight is proving to be anything but a festive turkey. Can the family market rally as the weekend progresses? Over to you, Kermit…
