Lots to be thankful for at Summit Entertainment (New Moon) and Warner Bros (Blind Side)

By Keith Williams

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/29/09 – One bites necks and the other breaks them as toothy Rob Pattinson went head to head in a tough battle with “The Blind Side” zero to football hero Quniton Aaron.

Pattinson gets a little neck in New Moon

While “Blind Side” actually won Turkey-day itself, and was edged by the Moon by only $1 million for the weekday W-F time frame (see related story), the vampires and werewolves had a great weekend, ripping a $66M 5-day and a bloody domestic total of $230M since it opened last weekend.

Blind Side scored a touchdown with a $58M 5-day long holiday weekend.

A New Moon shone brightly over America for Thanksgiving with the second part of the Twilight saga cementing its position at the top of the charts by beaming up an estimated $42.5 million over the 3-day timeframe, Fri-Sun..  Blind-sided by Sandra Bullock’s latest surprise hit, newcomers Old Dogs whined in 3425 kennels for $16.8 million of treats, Ninja Assassin executed $13.1 million at 2503 martial arts academies, while long-awaited The Road led to $1.5 million on 111 abandoned freeways.

No shock at No. 1 with Twilight – New Moon defying those (including me) who assumed its appeal would wane like a werewolf moon come its second outing.  Despite a steep plunge of 70.2%, there’s still mega-bucks to be made in those woods, especially with its total now up to $230 million since what feels like yesterday.

The Blind Side at 2 did however shock those who never expected its grosses to not only open bigger than anticipated but to actually grow in the days to come by rising 17.5%.  In only its second weekend of release, it panhandled $40.1 million to barge through the doors of the $100 million club where The Proposal waited to greet it.  Hand it to that Sandra, the patron saint of middle-aged actresses, when she hits the bullseye, everyone else better run for cover, except the fans of course.

At 3, the world continued to end with 2012 raking in $18 million, falling by only 31.8%, whereas at 4, it did momentarily splutter for Old Dogs.   Featuring Robin Williams and John Travolta in one of those ghastly mis-matched comedies long-loved by studios, reviews were what you’d expect from “snobby” critics, but this time, unlike Wild Hogs which for some arcane reason opened to just under $40 million back in 2007, this similar effort didn’t fare nearly as well.  Travolta has shown himself to have varied box-office appeal, hitting with Hairspray and Bolt, middling with The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Williams proving less reliable with only the two Night at the Museums, of which he was part of an ensemble, hitting Acapulco gold.  Two fine comedians nonetheless, but by the sounds of it, saddled with ropey material not even they could transcend.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol came in at 5, rising somewhat predictably by 30.4% now that decorations are actually up in the stores, to rattle $16 million worth of turkeys.   Pseudo-Jim Carrey was pursued by Ninja Assassin, the latest comic-style action thriller from the team that brought us V for Vendetta (and, let it be whispered, the much-derided but visually astonishing Speed Racer).  Fans will have already seen it by now, so what legs this ninja displays depends on those drawn in because they don’t fancy anything else.

At 7, Planet 51 chugged along with only a 17% drop in orbit to gravitate $10.2 million towards it, Precious braked at 8 by 34.8% to grab just under $8 million ($32.4 million so far), just ahead of Fantastic Mr Fox who expanded his welcome to 2033 dens to rustle up $7 million on top of the $3 million taken previously in limited.

Sharing cocktails together at 10, The Men Who Stared at Goats stared instead at the awaiting abyss of 11 to 20, psyching up a mere $1.5 million on a 45.8% drop in attention, whereas The Road found itself gazing up at the higher positions where expansion might take it.   Based on the apocalyptic novel by Carson McCullers, this proved no 2012, being the miserablist side of doomsday.  Much acclaimed by upmarket critics, admired by cineastes for its moody look and performances, and scoring the highest per-screen-average in the top ten of $13721, don’t expect this to have much appeal outside of cities for those living in-between (i.e. the rest of the country) whose idea of a Cannibal Christmas mesh more with that seen in I Am Legend.

Weekend Estimates courtesy boxofficeguru.com