THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON Breaks One-Day Box-Office Record

Kristen Stewart in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, with Robert Pattinson (top) and Taylor Lautner (bottom)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the Chris Weitz-directed Twilight sequel starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, earned $72.7 million on its first day out, including a record $26.3 million from midnight screenings, thus breaking the single day domestic box-office record previously held by Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, which made $67.2 million on its opening day last year.

According to reports, if The Twilight Saga: New Moon keeps it up it'll break another Dark Knight record: best opening weekend ever. (Though some analysts find that unlikely.) Last year, The Dark Knight earned $158.4 million on its first weekend.

In New Moon, Kristen Stewart is a human teen, Robert Pattinson her vampire lover, and Taylor Lautner (above) a werewolf who gets in the way. Triangular romantic entanglements ensue. Catherine Hardwicke directed the original Twilight, which went on to earn US$350 million worldwide.

"The moon may be new and the director may be different," writes Michael Rechtshaffen in The Hollywood Reporter, "… but otherwise, the second installment of the Twilight saga remains, for better or worse, exceptionally faithful to its 2008 beginnings … rather than venture out in potentially more intriguing or substantial directions, which should suit its ferocious adolescent female fan base just fine."

Also in the Twilight Saga: New Moon cast: Anna Kendrick, Michael Sheen, Peter Facinelli, Billy Burke, Michael Welch, Graham Greene, and Dakota Fanning.