UK Box Office: November 20 to 22

So far in 2009, the three biggest films of the year are Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, Ice Age 3 and Up. In other words: family sells. It's a tough challenge for a film that doesn't appeal broadly across the age demographics to reach the top box-office heights.

Which makes the £11.68m opening weekend for The Twilight Saga: New Moon all the more impressive. It's the second-biggest opening of the year, behind just Harry Potter, and more than the original Twilight film took in the UK in its entire lifetime.

Of course, the audience for this franchise is, in industry parlance, "front-loaded", and it is by no means certain that New Moon's total box-office will reach the big numbers achieved by the year's big family flicks. Repeat business will be crucial if it is to do so.

Last week's top title, disaster flick 2012, fell a hefty 46% from its opening gross. Any drop of less than 50% is not exactly shameful, especially for a big blockbuster facing such strong competition from a new release. With ten-day takings of £12.92m, the Roland Emmerich picture is already the 19th biggest hit of the last 52 weeks. Disney's A Christmas Carol fell a much slimmer 11%; the Dickens motion-capture animation is clearly benefiting from the steadily looming prospect of the winter holiday.

Second-highest new entry on the chart is down at number 8, the Coen brothers' A Serious Man. Considering the film came out on just 50 screens, box-office takings of £321,000 is a fantastic result. Backers Universal will be pleased that the film took nearly double the figure of fellow newcomer The Informant!, which stars Matt Damon, on less than half the screens.

Falling out of the top 10 on its fourth week of release is Michael Jackson's This Is It. The concert-rehearsal film fell another 76% at the weekend, and will now struggle to hold screens and showtimes. But with takings so far of £9.73m, it is comfortably the biggest documentary ever at the UK box-office.



UK Top 10 (up to November 22)

1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, £11.68m (New)
2. 2012, £3.50m (2 weeks in chart – Total: £12.93m)
3. A Christmas Carol, £2.22m (3 weeks in chart – Total: £8.55m)
4. Harry Brown, £725k (2 weeks in chart – Total: £2.70m)
5. Up, £642k (7 weeks in chart – Total: £33.56m)
6. Fantastic Mr Fox, £454k (5 weeks in chart – Total: £8.29m)
7. The Men Who Stare At Goats, £430k (3 weeks in chart – Total: £3.61m)
8. A Serious Man, £321k (New)
9. The Fourth Kind, £181k (3 weeks in chart – Total: £2.25m)
10. The Informant!, £180k (New)