Summit Entertainment’s Twilight, which was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and based on the bestselling novels by Stephenie Meyer, triumphed at the weekend box office with an estimated total of $70.6 million, sending the James Bond epic Quantum of Solace reeling with a 59% decline and dampening the debut of Disney’s Bolt.  Meyer’s 4 vampire romance novels have been hugely popular with tween and teen girls.  The four volumes have reportedly sold eight million copies domestically and another nine million overseas, and the novels’ popularity with women was demonstrated by the fact that the audience for Twilight was a whopping 75% female.  While Hollywood analysts are always looking for that “four quadrant” hit, Twilight proves (in case anyone has forgotten Titanic) that the female audience can deliver a hit of major productions.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): Nov. 21-23, 2008

With audience giving Twilight a CinemaScore of A-, it is probable that the film, which scored the largest opening ever for film directed by a woman, should continue to do well over the coming Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  Produced for just $37 million, Twilight posted the biggest opening ever for a vampire film (even when the openings of such previous efforts such as 1994’s Interview with a Vampire and 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula are adjusted for ticket price inflation), and it is no wonder that Summit has announced the production of a sequel, New Moon, which will be based on the second novel in Stephenie Meyer’s series.  The fact that the Twilight property is being developed into a franchise is certainly good news for Inkworks, which has released a series trading cards based on Twilight (see “Inkworks Adds Movie & TV Licenses”).

Twilight’s scintillating debut kept Hollywood’s string of strong opening weekends going with a 2% gain over the same frame a year ago.  The second Daniel Craig James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, dropped a larger-than-expected 59%, but still managed to take second place with an estimated $27.4million that brings its 10-day total to $109.5 million.

Disney’s animated feature Bolt, which features a stellar vocal cast headed by John Travolta, also earned an estimated $27 million, which was well short of the $35-45 million that some analysts were predicting.  Bolt opened in 3-D in nearly a thousand theaters, the widest opening ever in the new digital 3-D process.  On the positive side, Bolt drew a surprising number of adults and earned a CinemaScore of A-, which should translate into solid business over Thanksgiving week, especially since it will face little in the way of fresh competition.

In fourth place was Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which dropped nearly 55%, earning an estimated $16 million and bringing its cumulative to $137.4 million.  The effect of Twilight was felt most by High School Musical 3, which dropped 65% and earned just $2 million.  Right now it appears that HSM 3, which has earned $86 million, will have a hard time breaking the $100 million barrier.