With only days remaining before its much-anticipated return to Middle Earth, the box office was a relatively quiet place. Once again, holdovers ruled and grosses were small. In fact, the only real surprise was which of the week’s seasoned veterans came out on top. That would be Skyfall: the James Bond blockbuster that last held the top spot four weeks ago.

After a slow start on Wednesday and Thursday, the domestic box office roared to life on Black Friday and ended with the highest five-day Thanksgiving frame of all time. Holdovers were the main course, with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Skyfall and Lincoln claiming the top three spots. But audiences also made room for new arrivals, including Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, the long-delayed Red Dawn remake and the CGI-animated Rise of the Guardians.

No records were broken but The Twilight Saga went out the way it came in: huge. From 4,070 locations, Breaking Dawn Part 2 took in an estimated $141.3 million – topping the $138.1 million of last year’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 but falling slightly under the series’ record of $142.8 million set by New Moon. Worldwide, Twilight’s swan song has brought in over $340 million since its release which makes you wonder – how long before Summit can get a prequel in the works?

The Twilight franchise comes to an end this November with the release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, but the series is planning on going out with a bang.  Summit announced today that “The Twilight Saga Marathon” will invade theaters across the country on November 15th, a day before the wide release of Breaking Dawn – Part 2.  Fans will be treated to all four previous Twilight films on the big screen, followed by the premiere of Breaking Dawn – Part 2 at 10pm local time; a full two hours before the midnight screenings begin.

Marathon-goers will be privy to exclusive content that will play between the films as well as a collectible event lanyard to keep their tickets close.  Though the Twilight series gets derided plenty, Summit certainly knows how to treat the franchise’s legion of fans.  More detailed information will be released soon, but in the meantime check out trailers for all the previous films followed by the full press release after the jump.  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 opens everywhere on November 16th.

If you follow the box office at all you probably knew that The Hunger Games was going to open huge.  Tickets for advance screenings sold out weeks ago (the film had the third-highest pre-sales record in history) and the film’s $19.7 million midnight haul was the highest ever for a non-sequel release.  About the only question left to answer for the adaptation of the Suzanne Collins best-seller, then, was how huge was huge going to get?  This morning, estimates give The Hunger Games $68.2 million for all of Friday so… pretty big.  That falls short of the opening-days of both The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse though it is another record for a first-time property.  At this point the film will definitely break the all-time March opening record of $116.1 million and could go as high as $138 over the weekend, which would put Hunger Games close to the top five highest-debut weekends in history.  Check back tomorrow for analysis and details.

After two weeks spent chasing the superior numbers of New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 has finally achieved something that its predecessor could not: three weeks in a row on top of the domestic box office.

It may not have topped last year’s holiday in terms of totals, but Thanksgiving 2011 did prove bountiful for a handful of films.  Topping the list is Breaking Dawn Part 1 and its sophomore weekend estimate of $42 million and five-day holiday total of $62.3 million.  Meanwhile, The Muppets proved they still got game with a five-day total of $42 million.

While it fell short of breaking a series record, there is no diminishing the continued success of The Twilight Saga.  The penultimate chapter in Summit Entertainment’s astoundingly popular franchise, Breaking Dawn Part 1 posted this year’s second highest weekend total (and the fifth highest of all time) with an estimated $139.5 million from 4,061 locations.

Ah, Twilight Saga. How I’ve missed you. It’s been seventeen months since Eclipse, the last entry in the record-breaking series, sent breathless crowds of Twi-hards into theatres. And given the disappointing year we’ve been having, I had to wonder whether Breaking Dawn Part 1 would inspire the same level of box office devotion that I remember. My answer appears to be a resounding ‘hell yes.’ The penultimate pic of The Twilight Saga captured a series-best $30.3 million from its midnight launch and a first day estimate of $72 million. That total falls between 2010’s Eclipse ($68.5) and 2009’s New Moon ($72.7) and, if accurate, would give Breaking Dawn Part 1 the third-highest opening day in box office history. It also puts the film on track for a weekend of $140 million, an achievement on par with New Moon’s $142.8 million series record. Strangely enough, another big sequel gambled on opening opposite Breaking Dawn Part 1. Happy Feet Two earned an opening day estimate of $5.9 million, putting the 3D family film on track for a $21 million weekend or roughly half of its predecessor’s 2006 debut. Details and analysis tomorrow.

In its magical debut, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has claimed another record: the all-time domestic weekend opening.  With an estimated $168.5 million from its 4,375 locations, Harry Potter’s final installment topped the former record of $158.7 million that The Dark Knight set in July 2008.

The film world was rocked to it’s very core today with the announcement of the nominees for the 2011 MTV Movie Awards, the only movie awards show with the courage to hand out trophies for categories like “Best Kiss,” “Biggest Badass Star,” and “Best Scared-As-S**t Performance” (MTV still thinks it would be too much to include the letters “h” and “i”). Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was The Twilight Saga: Eclipse that lead the pack with 8 nominations, followed closely by Inception with 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 with 6, and The Social Network with 5 nods.  Obviously Twilight will win everything because fandom doesn’t care about critically comparing their favored property against other material.

As previously announced, Jason Sudeikis will be hosting the awards live on Sunday June 5^th. If you’re desperate to make sure that Steve-O gets that coveted “Best Jaw-Dropping Moment” statue for the Poo Cocktail Supreme in Jackass 3D (7) (about which he told MTV, “Being nominated in this category for my work with poo really means something.  I’m not sure what, but I’m very grateful.”), voting will take place at MovieAwards.MTV.com from today until June 4. That is except for the “Best Movie” category, which fans can continue to vote for while the awards ceremony is taking place. Hit the jump for the full list of awards and nominations.

I gotta say, 2010 was a great year for movies. Golden Globe-winners The Social Network, The Fighter and The King’s Speech, along with 127 Hours, True Grit and Inception, are just a handful of the terrific films released last year. Of course the Academy Awards will tell us which one was the best (sarcasm), but now it’s time to give a shout out to the worst. Because, despite the excellent pedigree of 2010 films, there must always exist motion pictures who roll themselves in crap before making their way to the big screen (in case you’re interested, Matt already unveiled his Worst Films of 2010 list, which you can check out here).

Without further ado, I’m pleased to announce this year’s Razzie Award nominations. Top contenders include M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, which scored in the Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Onscreen Couple (for the entire cast), Worst Prequel/Sequel, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Supporting Actor (for bother Dev Patel and Jackson Rathbone) and, my personal favorite, Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D categories. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse also scored nine nominations, including two for each of its male leads, Robert Patterson (who received a bonus nom as well for his performance in Remember Me) and Taylor Lautner, along with a Worst Actress nod for Kirsten Stewart’s performance. Hit the jump for the complete list.

There are plenty of terrible movies released each year and I don’t see most of them.  Either they’re not screened for critics, the screening conflicts with a film I want to see more, or I felt that my time could have been better spent another way.  But for all of these terrible films, there’s a fine line between “bad” and “insulting”.  The Switch is a bad movie, but that’s simply because it’s unfunny, lacks creativity, and wastes a talented lead actor in Jason Bateman.  But it doesn’t offend me.  The five movies that made this year’s worst list had to do something that insulted my intelligence and/or my belief that people should be treated equally no matter their sex, race, etc.  These are films I would wish on my worst enemy because then we could bond over having experienced these cinematic travesties.

You know how you’re a big fan of The Twilight Saga?  And you live near (or are willing to fly to) Dallas, New York, Baton Rouge, Denver, Salt Lake City, or Phoenix?

Well, cast members such as Kiowa Gordon, Ashley Greene, Jamie Campell Brower, Booboo Stewart, Jodelle Ferland, and Tinsel Korey will be visiting Best Buys in the aforementioned cities on December 17th and 18th to autograph copies of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on DVD and Blu-ray.  Hit the jump for details.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens with a fresh-faced college kid attacked in a dark Seattle alley by an unseen menace, save for a flash of red hair, and left bitten and screaming on a dock in the pounding rain.  Immediately, you know you’re in a more dangerous film than Twilight or New Moon.  Ultimately, Eclipse is still more love story than horror film: a supernatural Wuthering Heights of the Olympic Peninsula.  Altogether, it’s an intoxicating blend of vampires, werewolves and romance.  The Blu-ray Special Features explore a quality film production, in more depth than has been marketed.  The more time I spend with the Blu-ray, the more I like it.  Find out why after the jump: