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There was never any question that Summit Entertainment's Twilight Saga: New Moon would be the number one movie this weekend, there was just a question about how much the movie would gross. We now have the answer: a real, real lot.

According to early estimates at Box Office Mojo, New Moon made $140 million at domestic theaters. To put this in perspective, this means that the vampire flick now occupies the third spot on the chart of best opening weekends (behind Dark Knight and Spiderman 3). Truly impressive, especially when you consider that we're not in the summertime.

Last week, I discussed my disappointment with Disney's (DIS) A Christmas Carol. As a shareholder of the Mouse, I remain dissatisfied with the performance. However, this past weekend's theatrical take of the film makes me a little happier.

According to early estimates at Box Office Mojo, Carol scored about $22 million at domestic theaters, making it the second most popular film of the three-day period. Sure, it wasn't number one, but given the fact that Carol made $30 million last weekend, I'd say you have to give it some credit for avoiding a significant percentage drop. So far, it has generated more than $60 million in revenue.

When I discussed Lions Gate Entertainment's (LGF) first-quarter results, I noted the disappointing statement of cash flows. Unfortunately, the company didn't do much better in the second quarter. For the six-month period, Lions Gate used over $160 million for operations compared to the roughly $40 million used in the similar frame one year ago.

Of course, cash flow doesn't always get the most coverage. Investors tend to get more excited by a swing to profitability. On that count, Lions Gate scored admirably, earning 26 cents per diluted share versus losing 44 cents per diluted share twelve months prior. Earnings.com indicates that analysts were really underestimating the Q2 income potential here: the call was for 6 cents per share.

Disney (DIS) had high hopes for A Christmas Carol. It was supposed to be an unqualified blockbuster. Unfortunately, the film's first weekend at the box office was nothing short of a disaster.

Too strong? Hardly. According to early estimates at Box Office Mojo, Carol took in little more than $30 million at domestic screenings. It was wasn't supposed to be like this. Carol was supposed to be light-years ahead of the competition. Sony's (SNE) Michael Jackson's This Is It came in second. The Men Who Stare at Goats, distributed by Liberty Capital Group's (LCAPA) Overture Films, was third. And The Fourth Kind, from General Electric's (GE) Universal, is currently ranked, aptly enough, in fourth place. Each of the latter three pictures had a gross of somewhere between $12 million and $14 million. To me, Carol's take didn't seem as disproportionate as it should have been.

It was a triumphant weekend for Michael Jackson. And how fitting it was that the man who gave us the Thriller masterpiece saw victory during a weekend devoted to all things Halloween.

According to early estimates at Box Office Mojo, Michael Jackson's This Is It, distributed by Sony (NYSE: SNE), grossed about $21 million at domestic theaters, good for the top slot. The total tally for the film is over $32 million once the Wednesday opening is taken into account.

I don't believe it. I never thought it could happen. Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF) released Saw VI this past weekend. Surely the latest cinematic celebration of cruelty would be the number-one picture at domestic theaters, right? Saw is a big brand when it comes to torture movies. Jigsaw is a Freddy Krueger (and beyond) for the new generation. The teens would be out in full force to support all the latest traps and sequences of dismemberment and bloodletting for sure.

Well, Saw VI didn't come out on top. Instead, Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paranormal Activity made the most money in the race for domination at the multiplex, scoring approximately $22 million according to early estimates from Box Office Mojo. The new Saw did come in second, though, so that was at least some consolation, correct?

Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Where the Wild Things Are was number one over the past weekend at domestic theaters as of early estimates from Box Office Mojo. The film grossed well over $30 million. Coming in second was Law Abiding Citizen. If Wild Things wasn't in the market this weekend, that one definitely would have been tops at the multiplex. The revenge fest, from Liberty Capital Group's (NASDAQ: LCAPA) Overture Films, brought in $21 million.

Right on the heels of that project is the very cheaply made Paranormal Activity, courtesy of Viacom (NYSE: VIA). It made about $20 million. So far, Activity has generated over $30 million in total. And they say the little horror extravaganza cost less than $20,000 to produce!

General Electric's (NYSE: GE) studio division didn't have a great summer at the box office. This past weekend, though, the company's new comedy made waves at the box office.

According to Box Office Mojo, Universal's Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn, took in about $35 million at domestic theaters as of early estimates, more than enough to capture the top slot. Sony (NYSE: SNE) took the next two spots on the chart with Zombieland, and the resilient cartoon Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, respectively. Don't get too cocky, though, Sony, because Disney (NYSE: DIS) was right behind you with its Toy Story 3D special release.

The movie-going public was in the mood to see a classic Hollywood horror archetype over the weekend: zombies. Yep, the walking dead, made popular by George Romero so many years ago, were feasting in darkened theaters across the country. According to Box Office Mojo estimates available at the time of this writing, Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Zombieland made the most money at domestic theaters over the past weekend, taking in $25 million.

Sony also captured second place with its computer cartoon, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. That film is on its way to a total haul of over $100 million. At the moment, it has better than $80 million in the bank. Shareholders of Disney (NYSE: DIS), however, had their own computer cartoons in the marketplace as well. The double feature of Pixar's Toy Story and Toy Story 2 came in third with $12 million. To be honest, I thought the idea of running those two back-to-back would be too much to take for the attention spans of the younger crowd. I know it would be way too much for me to take.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) desperately wants to get its movie business back in some kind of order. Look no further than the recent departure of Dick Cook. According to the Los Angeles Times, the studio head was forced to resign by CEO Bob Iger because of poor performance (Iger was right to do this, but I'm not sure he's any smarter than Cook, to be honest . . .). Unfortunately, Disney's latest project, Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, might not do much to help the cause.

According to Boxofficemojo, Surrogates came in second over the weekend at domestic theaters, behind Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The Disney film captured an estimated $15 million versus Meatballs' $24.6 million (final numbers are due later).

Sony (NYSE: SNE) had a tasty weekend. The studio's new computer-generated cartoon, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, finished the box-office race in first place. According to Boxofficemojo, Meatballs (and I am only shortening the title to Meatballs because, from what I've seen, most media outlets are using this standard; as far as I'm concerned, the movie should be shortened to Cloudy so as to avoid confusion with the classic Bill Murray comedy), made $30 million at domestic theaters as of early estimates. Don't worry, though; even if the estimates come in a little lighter than expected, Sony is going to remain top dog.

That's because the next two films on the chart are each credited with around $10 million. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Informant! and Lionsgate's (NYSE: LGF) Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself settled into the second and third spots, respectively. These two could conceivably change places once final stats are delivered to analysts.

I read a surprising article over at Boxofficemojo by Brandon Gray. The author highlighted the foreign financial performance of News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) computer-animated cartoon Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the third entry in the popular franchise. Amazingly, Dinosaurs has now grossed $667 million at theaters outside the domestic market.

What's so interesting about that? Well, it means that the project now occupies third place on the all-time foreign chart. Gray says the number-one film on this chart is Titanic, which was a co-production between News Corp. and Viacom (NYSE: VIA). Coming in second is Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

It was a big weekend for Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF). The company had a Tyler Perry picture in the multiplex marketplace. As shareholders know, the talented writer/producer/director has a lot of brand equity with moviegoers. About a year ago, Lionsgate was doing relatively well with Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys. That project opened in second place.

This year, Perry has done even better. Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself debuted in the top spot at domestic theaters as of early estimates at Boxofficemojo. Its three-day gross was roughly $24 million. It had some stiff competition. Coming in second was the animated sci-fi piece 9 from Focus Features, which is owned by General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal. Inglourious Basterds, distributed by The Weinsten Company, was third (the Quentin Tarantino flick has now gone beyond $100 million in total gross). News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) All About Steve came in at number four. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Final Destination appears to be losing steam, as it dropped to the fifth slot on the chart.

Speaking of horror, Sorority Row from Summit Entertainment came in sixth. I thought this movie was going to rank much higher, but I was wrong. The marketing campaign looked good to me, but it apparently didn't fully resonate with the intended audience (perhaps a large amount of that audience decided to opt for Destination instead).

Disney (NYSE: DIS), a media business that competes with Time Warner (NYSSE: TWX) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA), is currently holding a four-day fan convention in California called the D23 Expo. According to Julia Boorstin over at CNBC.com, you might consider it a Comic-Con-like event strictly for the Mouse. As far as I can tell, this initiative is a smart marketing move. Disney is able to promote a lot of its content in a very targeted fashion.

Of particular interest is one piece of content that was highlighted in an article at the Los Angeles Times website. Disney is making a significant bet on an upcoming cartoon called The Princess and the Frog. It won't be a flashy 3-D production. Instead, it's animated in a 2-D environment.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) was tops at the multiplex yet again with a scary horror franchise that the teens seem to be enjoying. The Final Destination, according to Boxofficemojo, grossed $12 million at domestic theaters over the three-day weekend, as of early estimates available at the time of this writing. I'm sure Destination will retain its number-one status once Labor Day is figured into the equation.

All About Steve, from News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), was the second-place film. It actually came close to Destination's take, bringing in about $11 million. Inglourious Basterds, distributed by The Weinstein Company, was third, and Gamer, an interesting sci-fi flick courtesy of Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), was fourth. Sony's (NYSE: SNE) District 9, which came in fifth, has now gone beyond $100 million in total take.