New Moon enters the record books

The second movie in the Twilight saga, New Moon, notched up an estimated $140.7 million during its first three days of release across the US and Canada, according to distributor Summit Entertainment.

The record for an opening was set last year by The Dark Knight, with $158 million. Spider-man 3 follows with $151 million, with New Moon replacing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($136 million) at number three.

Summit said that New Moon also set an opening day record, with Friday sales of $72.7 million, passing the $67.2 million notched up by The Dark Knight.

ABC News said that the vampire flick is now on target to exceed the $193 million total of the first film - Twilight - which was released last year.