Actress Kristen Stewart (right) poses with a fan after she talked about her new movie 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' on the 'Today' show, in New York, Tuesday, June 29. - ap

 

LOS ANGELES (AP):

'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' is waning at the box office but still has got off to a blockbuster start with US$161 million in its first five days, according to studio estimates yesterday.

The third chapter in Summit Entertainment's vampire romance fell off sharply after debuting last Wednesday with US$68.5 million. That was the second-best opening-day haul ever, behind its predecessor, last year's The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which opened with US$72.7 million.

After that huge first day, Eclipse averaged about US$23 million daily over the next four days. That includes an estimate for a slow Sunday as people turned their attention to Fourth of July activities.

blame the weather

"Weather has a lot to do with a Fourth of July opening. I'm not looking to make excuses, but between barbecues and fireworks, we have a lot of competition," said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit. "I do think people will come back to the movie."

Its total through Sunday came in well short of the US$200 million mark set last year by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the record-holder for best five-day start for movies opening on Wednesday.

Eclipse easily held the number-one spot for the weekend, though its US$69 million Friday-to-Sunday total was only a fraction more than what the movie took in just on opening day. New Moon took in US$142.8 million in its first weekend last November, though the movie opened on Friday and the figure includes its record opening-day gross.

Summit estimates Eclipse will climb to around US$181 million domestically by Monday. The movie also has added US$100.2 million in 42 overseas markets.

Eclipse has found a wider fan base than New Moon, with a bigger percentage of males turning out for the latest instalment. Female fans accounted for 80 per cent of the audience on New Moon but only 65 per cent of crowds for Eclipse, Summit reported.

The latest adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novels, Eclipse continues the love triangle involving a broody teen (Kristen Stewart), her vampire sweetheart (Robert Pattinson) and her werewolf pal (Taylor Lautner).

The weekend's other new wide release, Paramount's The Last Airbender, opened well with US$40.7 million to finish at number two for the three-day weekend. The movie took in US$53.2 million since debuting Thursday.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense), The Last Airbender is based on the cartoon series about a youth with mythical powers who can unite four warring nations.

The Last Airbender found a solid audience despite dreadful reviews from critics, who found the plot muddled and the dialogue stilted.

Disney's animated smash Toy Story 3, which had been number one the previous two weekends, slipped to third-place with US$30.2 million, raising its total to US$289 million.

Toy Story 3 is about to surpass last year's Up at US$293 million to become number two on the chart of Pixar Animation's blockbusters. The Disney unit's top-grossing film is Finding Nemo at US$339.7 million.

Hollywood's overall business rose, helping to shore up this summer's sliding box office. Total revenues came in at about US$193 million from Friday to Sunday, up 19 per cent from the Fourth of July weekend last year, according to box-office tracker hollywood.com.

Revenues this season are running at US$2.16 billion, down a fraction from summer 2009. Factoring in higher ticket prices, though, movie attendance this summer is down 6.7 per cent, according to hollywood.com