AceShowbiz -

After breaking midnight record in its first day screening, "The Twilight Saga's New Moon" has topped the North American box office chart. This weekend, the "Twilight" sequel grossed $142.8 million domestically, making it the third biggest opening weekend of all time. Internationally, the film earned an approximately $118.1 million from 25 foreign markets.

Still, the amount raked by the second installment of the vampire drama movies from local theaters in the opening weekend was lower than the $158 million bowed by "The Dark Knight" and the $151 million summoned by 2007 "Spider-Man 3". Meanwhile, the third place initially belonged to "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" with $136 million.

Though so, "New Moon" has surpassed the previous November opening record for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" which collected $101.4 million in its debut weekend. Moreover, it gathered almost exactly twice the opening weekend gross of the first film, "Twilight", which earned only $69.6 million in its first weekend almost a year ago.

Also blasting on this weekend box office was "The Blind Side", a drama movie starring Sandra Bullock, with $34.1 million intake. Last week champion "2012 (2009)", meanwhile, only managed a second-place finish with $26.4 million haul.

Another newcomer, "Planet 51", earned fourth place with $12.3 million. Following the animated movie was "A Christmas Carol (2009)". The Jim Carrey's holiday movie took in $12.3 million in its third week.

Top Ten Movies at Box Office for November 20-22:

1. "The Twilight Saga's New Moon" - $ 142.8 million
2. "The Blind Side" - $ 34.1 million
3. "2012 (2009)" - $ 26.4 million
4. "Planet 51" - $ 12.3 million
5. "A Christmas Carol (2009)" - $12.3 million
6. "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" - $10.9 million
7. "The Men Who Stare at Goats" - $2.8 million
8. "Couples Retreat" - $1.9 million
9. "The Fourth Kind" - $1.7 million
10. "This Is It" - $1.6 million

*UPDATE: When the final figures came out on Monday, November 23, "Law Abiding Citizen" dropped another slot to the eleventh. Hence, it swapped place with "This Is It", which now secured the tenth position on the chart.