Friday Box Office: Muppets Chomp at Twilight's Heels

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn might have held onto the #1 slot during the Thanksgiving frame, but holiday buzz lifted those plucky Muppets to a strong second place showing; with $24.7 million over three days, Jason Segel, Kermit, and Co. should ride the Rainbow Connection all the way to a very nice pile of green by weekend's end. Meanwhile, Happy Feet Two continues to slide and Aardman Animation's fellow wintry offering Arthur Christmas opened with a modest $4.5 million Friday. Martin Scorsese's 3-D fall family flick Hugo, on the other hand, enjoyed a strong debut on a fraction of the screens. Maybe audiences weren't quite ready to ring in the yuletide cheer?

(And don't count out the charming black and white silent film homage The Artist, which debuted in limited release in just four theaters for a one-day take of $75,000, averaging $18,750 per screen...)

1. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1: $16,900,000 ($196,178,000)

2. THE MUPPETS: $12,275,000 ($24,775,000)

3. HAPPY FEET TWO: $5,130,000 ($35,503,000)

4. ARTHUR CHRISTMAS: $4,550,000 ($8,800,000)

5. HUGO: $4,532,000 ($8,545,000)

[Figures via Box Office Mojo]