LOS ANGELES—The latest “Twilight” teen vampire sequel was the most popular movie in North America for the third weekend in a row, industry estimates showed Sunday.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. AP FILE PHOTO
The vampire heart-throbber neared the quarter-billion-dollar mark, raking in a total of $247.3 million since it opened, and $16.9 this weekend alone, according to Exhibitor Relations.
That put the teen flick ahead of “The Muppets,” the new film based on the Jim Henson puppet characters, which grossed $11.2 million in its second week in theaters for a total run of $56.1 million so far.
Martin Scorcese’s first 3D film “Hugo” came in third place. The adventure drama based on Brian Selznick’s novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” about a boy who lives alone in a Paris railway station raked in $7.6 million.
Staying in fourth place was animated family comedy “Arthur Christmas,” about Santa’s son tasked with completing a mission by Christmas morning. It pulled in $7.4 million.
In other family fare, penguin tale “Happy Feet Two” landed in fifth place, with $6 million.
Adam Sandler’s “Jack and Jill” comedy in which he plays both a successful Los Angeles advertising executive and his needy twin sister Jill, came in sixth. It got $5.5 million.
In seventh was George Clooney comedy-drama “The Descendants,” with $5.2 million, enough to push it ahead of big-budget 3-D epic “Immortals,” which got 4.4 million.
Action comedy “Tower Heist,” starring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, scored $4.1 million to come in ninth, ahead of animated children’s film “Puss in Boots,” with $3 million.