Friday Report: 'Twilight' Easily Holds First
Heading in to the weekend, it looked like it was going to be a tight race for first place between The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and The Muppets. With Friday estimates in, though, Breaking Dawn has an overwhelming edge and will easily score its third-straight weekend on top of the box office.

The penultimate Twilight movie fell 67 percent to an estimated $5.5 million. That's notably up on New Moon's $5.1 million on the same day in 2009, though Breaking Dawn's $235.9 million still lags a bit behind New Moon's $245 million through the same point. Breaking Dawn is now poised for a weekend take around $16 million, which will definitely be good enough for first place.

The Muppets plummeted 77 percent to an estimated $2.7 million. In comparison, Tangled dropped 74 percent while Enchanted fell 66 percent on the Friday after Thanksgiving weekend. The movie has made $48 million through its first 10 days in theaters, and will likely finish the weekend with between $9 and $10 million.

After expanding from 1,277 to 1,840 theaters, Hugo eased 56 percent to claim third place with an estimated $2 million. The movie has so far earned $19.6 million, and appears in line for a $7 million three-day weekend.

Arthur Christmas fell 63 percent to an estimated $1.65 million. The Aardman Animation Christmas movie has now grossed $19.6 million, and will finish the weekend with roughly $6 million.

Jack and Jill fell 58 percent to $1.56 million, which was one of the better holds among nationwide releases. The Adam Sandler comedy has now made $60.4 million.

Happy Feet Two added $1.4 million on Friday, or just 33 percent of Happy Feet's daily gross at the same point in 2006. The animated sequel has earned just $47.2 million so far, and is on its way to a weekend gross between $5 and $6 million.

An estimate for The Descendants is not currently available.

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Related Chart:

• Grosses for Friday, December 2, 2011