By Franck Tabouring
Weekend of November 21 – 23, 2008

Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight” stormed to the top of the North American box office this weekend with a whopping $70 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of the popular Stephenie Meyer novel started its path to box office glory early this weekend when it collected $7 million from midnight screenings. The vampire romance ended up beating studio expectations, prompting Summit to quickly green-light a sequel.

At No. 2, Marc Forster’s “Quantum of Solace” delivered another strong result, collecting $27.4 million to reach a total haul of $109.4 million after only two weeks in release. The 22nd official James Bond adventure is now $58 million away from topping the cumulative gross of its predecessor, “Casino Royale.”

Debuting in third place with $27 million was Walt Disney’s latest animated family film “Bolt,” which follows the story of a dog who believes he has superpowers until he realizes he’s just the star of a popular TV show. The movie’s voice cast includes John Travolta and Miley Cyrus.

“Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” dropped to No. 4, earning another $16 million. The animated adventure about four New York Zoo animals who end up stranded somewhere in Africa lifted its domestic total to $137.4 million after a strong three-week run.

Meanwhile, David Wain’s surprise hit “Role Models” took home $7.2 million in fifth place, bringing its cumulative gross to $48 million. Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd star as two coworkers joining a program that encourages adults to befriend lonely children.

Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling” slipped to No. 6 with a weekend gross of $2.6 million and a total of $31.6 million, followed by Disney’s “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” in seventh place with $2 million for a $86.8 million total.

At No. 8, Kevin Smith’s latest comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” pulled in another $1.7 million, reaching a cumulative of $29.3 million after four weeks in release. Jumping 10 spots to No. 9 was “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” which after expanding to 406 theaters collected $1.6 million.

Rounding out the top 10 was “The Secret Life of Bees,” which brought its domestic total to $35.6 million after this weekend’s earnings of $1.2 million.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)