‘New Moon’ holds top spot at the box office

‘New Moon’ holds top spot at the box office

LOS ANGELES — Vampires and werewolves continued to howl at the box office with a $42.5 million weekend for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight” sequel remained No. 1 over what proved a record Thanksgiving weekend for Hollywood. But “New Moon” was nearly blind-sided for the top spot by a real-life football drama.

“The Blind Side” had a great second weekend with $40.1 million coming in at No. 2 just behind “New Moon.” Released by Warner Bros., the inspirational story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher stars Sandra Bullock as a woman whose wealthy family takes in the homeless teen and enrolls him in private school.

The two movies propelled Hollywood to record revenues over the five-day Thanksgiving period. Wednesday-to-Sunday receipts came in at an estimated $275 million, according to Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

That surpassed the previous Thanksgiving record of $244.4 million set in 2000, when “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Unbreakable” topped the box office.

Home with a view: Polanski to head for house arrest

GSTAAD, Switzerland — Roman Polanski is expected to trade the confines of a Swiss jail this week for house arrest in a luxury chalet with a view of the Alps, where he will await a Swiss decision whether to extradite him to the United States.

The biggest drawback for Polanski will be that he will be unable to leave the 19,000-square-foot property without losing $4.5 million in bail. The arrival of the bail money in Switzerland appeared to be the main remaining obstacle to the transfer from prison, which could happen as soon as today, according to Galli.

The director has been in Swiss custody since being arrested Sept. 26 on a U.S. warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival.

He is wanted in the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Efrem Zimbalist Junior is 91. Actor Robert Guillaume is 82. TV personality and producer Dick Clark is 80. Director Ridley Scott is 72. Singer-actor Mandy Patinkin is 57. Country singer Jeannie Kendall of The Kendalls is 55. Singer Billy Idol is 54. Comedian Colin Mochrie (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) is 52. Actor-director Ben Stiller is 44. Actress Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Sideways”) is 39. Country singer Mindy McCready is 34. Singer Clay Aiken is 31. Actress Elisha Cuthbert (”24”) is 27. Actress Kaley Cuoco (“The Big Bang Theory”) is 24.