Vampires bite off rivals to box office glory for 3rd week

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.