Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Holds on to Top Spot for Third Week Running

Amidst a slew of fairly weak competition, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1‘s weekend gross of $16.9 million was enough to keep it in the number one spot for the third weekend in a row, despite a drop in box office receipts of nearly 60% since last weekend. So far, the movie has earned $247.2 million. The Muppets (weekend gross $11.2 million, total gross $56.1 million) held steady in spot number two, while Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (weekend gross $7.6 million, total gross $25.1 million) rose two spots to number three. Meanwhile, rounding out the top five were Arthur Christmas (weekend gross $7.3 million, total gross $25.2 million) and Happy Feet Two (weekend gross $6 million, total gross $51.7 million).

As evidenced by the slew of Thanksgiving weekend holdovers that dominated the top five, no new movies hit theaters in wide release last weekend. As far as limited releases are concerned, Shame came out on top, earning $361,181 in only ten theaters. Other new releases were Pastorela ($73,000), Answers to Nothing ($16,000) and Sleeping Beauty ($9,200).

Out next weekend in wide release—and hoping they can stop Breaking Dawn‘s box office supremacy from lasting a whole month—are New Year’s Eve and The Sitter. Limited releases include Catch .44, I Melt with You, In Darkness, Knuckle, London River, My Piece of the Pie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Young Adult. W.E. and We Need to Talk About Kevin will each start their week-long Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles this weekend as well; both films are set to come out in wide release in early 2012.