Sony’s 2012 topped Thursday’s daily box office with $3.17 million. That was down 13 percent from Wednesday and brings the film’s one-week total to $81.72 million. That represented a very solid start for the extremely expensive disaster film, especially when considering that 2012 is performing much stronger internationally. The seven-day domestic start for 2012 was nearly on par with the seven-day start of Sony’s Quantum of Solace last November, as 2012 currently trails the pace of the last James Bond film by just 0.4 percent.

In anticipation of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Summit re-issued Twilight on Thursday night in 2,057 locations for one showing only. The Twilight re-issue grossed an excellent $1.30 million, which was good enough for second place on Thursday and brings the film’s lifetime total to $192.77 million. Afterwards, the main event was released to record-breaking numbers, as The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed an estimated $26.27 million from its midnight screenings. That number topped the previous $22.2 million midnight record of this year’s Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince and will be counted towards Friday’s box office. New Moon needs to gross $40.90 million during the rest of Friday to match the all-time opening day record of The Dark Knight.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol fell one spot to third with $1.04 million. However, the 3D holiday film experienced the day’s best hold among wide releases, as it was down only 2 percent from Wednesday and down 32 percent from last Thursday. Yesterday’s hold strongly suggests that A Christmas Carol will be the least affected of any wide release by New Moon this weekend, though it could still take a hit from the combined debuts of Warner’s The Blind Side and Sony’s Planet 51 as well. A Christmas Carol grossed $26.60 million for the week, which brings the film’s two-week total to $67.56 million.

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire fell one spot from Wednesday to place in fifth. Though it was down 11 percent from Wednesday, Lionsgate’s Oscar hopeful for Best Picture continues to post impressive per-location numbers. Precious grossed $7.57 million for the week, which made it the week’s fourth highest grossing film, despite playing in only 174 locations. Precious has grossed $10.40 million in 14 days and will be playing in 629 locations this weekend.

Check back throughout the weekend for additional coverage of The Twilight Saga: New Moon.