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?

Estimates are in for the opening day of Breaking Dawn Part 2 and, as expected, it’s a monster. Summit Entertainment is reporting that, from 4,070 locations, the final chapter in The Twilight Saga took in a reported $71.2 million. As big as that is (and it is the sixth highest first day of all time), it is not a record for the franchise. It is slightly under the starts of both 2009’s New Moon ($72.7 million) and last year’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($71.6 million). To make things more complicated, the Friday estimate for Breaking Dawn Part 2 includes the film’s Thursday 10 pm previews, which adds a little asterisk to the stats. Yesterday, we told you that Part 2 took in $30.4 million from its 10 pm and midnight shows combined; and because no one knows exactly how much those Thursday screenings produced, it remains difficult to rank the last Twilight against its predecessors – none of which debuted before midnight. Putting Thursday aside, no should be confused about how big the last Twilight will be. Though weekend projections have been scaled back – from over $150 million yesterday to less-than Breaking Dawn Part 1’s $138.1 million today – either way, Twilight 5 will wind up with one of the highest openings of 2012. Add in the $38.8 million the film has already earned overseas and Breaking Dawn Part 2 will close the Twilight Saga out in style. We’ll have full box office coverage on Sunday, including details on Lincoln.

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.

The worst-kept secret in show biz is out: The Hunger Games is a hit of record-breaking proportions.  From its 10,000 prints at 4,137 locations, the film earned an estimated $155 million this weekend, blowing away the previous March record of $116.1 million.  The figure also stands as the third-highest opening of all-time and the single highest debut for a non-sequel. Score one for breathless, wall-to-wall media saturation!

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.

Honored for his extraordinarily moving, and now Oscar-nominated, portrayal of an undocumented worker in A Better Life, Demian Bichir was presented with a Virtuoso Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). Collider was there to cover and attend the event, and we’ve compiled the highlights of what the well-respected actor had to say, both on the press line and during the Q&A.

While there, Demian Bichir talked about what the whole award season experience has been like for him, getting to bond with some of his fellow nominees, what it means to him to be recognized for this powerful character, how he initially met director Chris Weitz a couple years prior when he auditioned for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, flying back and forth to Mexico so that he can continue a play that he’s currently doing, and how his nomination is dedicated to the 11 million human beings who work with pride, power and dignity to help this society go forward. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

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.

For the second weekend in a row Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 heads the weekend box office, taking in an estimated $76.3 million over five days and bringing its ten day domestic total to $220.4 million.  Potter was not the only family film that enchanted over the Thanksgiving holiday: Disney’s Tangled pulled in an estimated $69 million in its five day start, besting many predictions.  Meanwhile, debuts aimed at the adult audience gave new meaning to the term ‘turkey trot.’ Burlesque, Love & Other Drugs and Faster all failed to pass $20 million after five days. Nevertheless, this was the second-highest grossing Thanksgiving on record after Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Blind Side took 2009.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse finished out its first day in theatres by grabbing the record for the single best Wednesday debut of all-time with $68.5 million. That estimate includes the $30 million brought in from the film’s midnight and early morning screenings (a record) at 4,416 domestic locations (yep, that’s a record too). Though that figure tops Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s previous Wednesday record as well as the $67.2 million debut of The Dark Knight, Eclipse’s total ultimately fell short of the $72.7 million all-around single day record set by New Moon last November. So, OK. One record got away from them. Eclipse still has the next five days of holiday goodness ahead of it and lots more money to make. So no one needs to feel disappointed here.

It has begun. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse officially launched at 12:01 this morning at over 4,000 locations. All signs pointed to a giant debut and, for once, all the signs were correct. Summit Entertainment reports that the third entry in The Twilight Saga took in a record $30 million from its midnight and 3:00 am shows alone. That takes the title away from the $26.2 million that New Moon, the previous midnight record holder, posted last November. Of course, Summit nearly insured that Eclipse would break its predecessor’s record by upping the film’s theatre count – making it the widest midnight release of all time on top of the overall widest opening film to date. And this day has really just begun. With its tickets accounting for over 90% of online ticket agent’s sales and a huge number of theatres long since sold-out, Eclipse will also top New Moon’s opening day total of $72.7 million. By just how much is the question.