'The Blind Side' sacks 'New Moon' at box office2009-12-07

Sandra Bullock continues to dominate the box office as her football drama The Blind Side claimed the No. 1 spot this weekend after three weeks in theaters, vaulting over The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Blind Side raked in $20.4 million this weekend, according to studio estimates from box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI. So far, the film has earned $129.3 million.

"The movie has already done more than twice what we expected," says Jeff Goldstein of Warner Bros., which released The Blind Side. "I don't think Sandra is America's sweetheart; she's the world's sweetheart."

Goldstein says the studio intentionally opened opposite New Moon as alternative programming for audiences not interested in a vampire romance.

"We knew Twilight was going to get the younger females," Goldstein says. "So we went after the older ones. But everyone turned out."

The Blind Side's unexpected performance comes on the heels of Bullock's romantic comedy The Proposal, which also surprised with $164 million – the 11th-highest-grossing movie of the year.

"She has a girl-next-door quality to her that people relate to," Goldstein says. "This is clearly her year."

Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com calls The Blind Side "a textbook case of how great buzz can create a long-term success."

He says the picture is "well on its way to a $200 million domestic gross."

New Moon is already there. The latest installment of the Stephenie Meyer series earned $15.7 million to raise its three-week total to $255.6 million.

Brothers, the war drama starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman, was a surprise No. 3 with $9.7 million, almost $2 million more than analysts projected.

Disney's A Christmas Carol continues to play well, pulling in $7.5 million to bring its five-week total to $115 million. Rounding out the top five is John Travolta's Old Dogs, which made $6.9 million.

It was a middling weekend for other newcomers as the heist film Armored managed $6.6 million, slightly below expectations. Robert De Niro's Everybody's Fine met its modest expectations with $4 million.

In limited release, George Clooney's Oscar bait Up in the Air did a healthy $1.2 million in 15 theaters for a $79,000 per-screen average.

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