'Breaking Dawn Part 2' Earns $30.4 Million from Midnight/Thursday Night Shows
As expected, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 got off to a very impressive start last night. The fifth and final installment in the perennial franchise grossed an estimated $30.4 million from midnight and 10 p.m. Thursday showtimes, which is slightly higher than the midnight-only grosses for Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($30.25 million) and Eclipse ($30.1 million). It's also noticeably better than New Moon's $26.3 million.

Unfortunately, Lionsgate/Summit have declined to break out the grosses from the 10 p.m. Thursday shows, which should not be counted towards the opening weekend figure (the weekend is Friday to Sunday, not Thursday night to Sunday). Clearly, though, opening at 10 p.m. on Thursday makes it easier for younger audience members to get to theaters, so the $30.4 million figure is probably going to make up a larger portion of opening day than past midnight-only hauls.

If Breaking Dawn Part 2 does manage to follow Part 1's pattern from here, it will wind up with around $140 million by Sunday.

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