New Moon scores biggest opening in Australian history

Yep, another article about the Earth-shattering box office grosses of The Twilight Saga’s New Moon. The Chris Weitz-directed vampire/werewolf/love story has claimed the biggest ever opening weekend in Australia.

The sequel to 2008’s hit film Twilight took in a massive $16.01 million on 530 screens, beating the record previously held by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ($14.13 million).

The Twilight Saga’s New Moon also claimed the third highest opening day for an Australian release ever, with a box office of $5.04 million. It was unable to best the second and third installments of the Lord of the Rings franchise.

The Summit Entertainment-produced film only cost $50 million to make. CEO of Hoyts Distribution (the Australian distributor) Robert Slaverio had this to say of New Moon’s local grosses:

“What a phenomenal result, this is way beyond our expectations and confirms that the Twilight franchise has well and truly arrived.”

Discuss: What else is there to say? This sucker is making a lot of money.