The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 has posted the third biggest opening weekend this year after grossing more than $12.49 million at the local box office.
The final instalment in the five-part paranormal-romance series trailed only The Dark Knight Rises ($15.1 million) and The Avengers ($13.3 million), which both posted bigger opening weekends in 2012. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, distributed by Hoyts/Studio Canal, opened across a massive 655 screens and posted an impressive screen average of $19,070.
The opening result was slightly above The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, which opened with $12.1 million in 2011 and went on to gross $28.8 million in Australia.
The second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, remains the biggest of the franchise: it opened with $16.1 million in 2009 and went on to gross $38.7 million in total.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was followd by Argo ($1.07 million in its fourth weekend), The Intouchables ($466,479 also in its fourth weekend), Seven Psychopaths ($462,381 in its second weekend), and Nitro Circus: The Movie (which opened with $458,657).
Among Australian films, Paramount-Transmission drama Dead Europe opened with $17,430 across 12 screens ($1453 screen average), while The First Fagin posted a disappointing $8416 across 22 screens ($383 screen average). Meanwhile, New Zealand comedy Two Little Boys took $40,744 across 23 screens ($1771 screen average).
Contact this reporter at bswift@www.if.com.au or on Twitter at @bcswift.
Australian films at the box office 2012