Wednesday was day one for three new family films but, even on this holiday frame, not one of them came close to challenging Breaking Dawn.  The penultimate entry in The Twilight Saga series led the way on Thanksgiving-eve, pulling in an estimated $12.5 million from 4,066 locations.  Projections for the five-day holiday top $55 million, a figure which would put BD1’s ten day total at an incredible $215 million.  The Muppets is also drawing crowds.  After earning an estimated $6.6 million on Wednesday, Kermit and Piggy are projected to take in $45 million by the close of the holiday weekend.  By comparison, debuts for Thanksgiving’s other family offerings appeared more muted: Sony’s 3D-animated Arthur Christmas earned an estimated $2.4 million from 3,376 dates on Wednesday while the 3D live-action pic Hugo (in a more modest 1,277 venues) claimed seventh place with $1.6 million.  We’ll have updates on the holiday box office as the weekend progresses.

Title

Wednesday

Total

1

Breaking Dawn Part 1

$12,500,000

$171.4

2

The Muppets

$6,600,000

$6.6

3

Happy Feet Two

$2,915,000

$28.3

4

Arthur Christmas

$2,400,000

$2.4

5

Jack and Jill

$1,925,000

$45.2