User blog:Ceauntay/'Heroes' Thankful to Record $139M Opening Weekend

The vampires and werewolves of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" ruled friendly-family films in its second weekend in a row, taking $62.3 million over the five-day weekend, but it was superheroes and supervillains of "Heroes: A New Beginning" whom ruled the weekend box office on Thanksgiving taking in a massive $159.5 million. That's three and a half times as much as "Toy Story 2" earned on the same weekend twelve years ago with $80.4 million.

The family-friendly "The Muppets," meanwhile, took a solid $42 million.

The five-day Thanksgiving weekend -- always filled with family fare -- is especially tilted toward children and their parents this year. "Happy Feet Two," the 3D animated film from Warner Bros., is No. 3 in its second week, taking an estimated $18.5 over the five days.

Sony/Aardman's animated "Arthur Christmas" is No. 4, with an estimated $15.9 and the Paramount/GK Films "Hugo" is No. 5 with an especially strong $15.2M.

Dave Hollis, Disney's distribution chief, told TheWrap that he expected "The Muppets" to gross in the upper $30 million range for the five days.

The success, he said, will mean more Muppets across the board.

"The value of 'The Muppets' isn't just about the theatrical run," he said. "It's about how we might take advantage of this across multiple lines of business. This opens the door for us to think about how the Muppets can be showcased in a variety of different ways."

Despite "The Muppets" numbers, the overall box office was down 12 percent compared to the five-day Thanksgiving weekend last year -- 11 percent compared to the regular, three-day weekend.

And even with its third-place showing against strong competition, "Happy Feet" is posting weak enough numbers that its digital production facility, Dr. D Studios, is laying off 600 of its 700 employees.

Also read: 'Muppets' Director: 'I Didn't Want to Ruin People's Childhoods'

Hollis said "The Muppets" cost about $45 million to make. The moviegoer survey firm CinemaScore rated it an "A." And it took in $29.5 million over three days.

That, Hollis said, is a powerful combination -- especially considering that the studio had estimated the movie would take in somewhere in the upper $20 million range for the three days.

"We needed to make this film to bring these characters back," he said. "It is a bit of a testament to the power of the Walt Disney Company and the power of the characters combined."

He said that now, "you take a property like this, have it permeate in every way possible the social consciousness of people in every medium possible, have a great theatrical opening and then watch it become a meaningful thing for consumers to interact with in a bunch of different ways."

That means merchandise and, perhaps, more movies, he said, noting that the movie's soundtrack is the top soundtrack on iTunes.

"I expect more Muppets everywhere -- and everywhere would theoretically include the movie theater," he said.

More to come...