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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Eclipse’ pulls off record-setting debut

The Spokesman-Review

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” pulled in $68.5 million in its first day to set a new record for a movie debuting on Wednesday.

The third installment in the vampire romance surpassed the previous Wednesday record of $62 million set last year by “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

But “Eclipse” – which cost $68 million to produce – fell short of the all-time best opening day, a record held by its predecessor, last November’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” which opened on a Friday and took in $72.7 million.

“Eclipse” opened in a record 4,416 theaters and expands to 4,468 cinemas today for the holiday weekend.

The “Twilight” franchise will conclude with a two-part adaptation of “Breaking Dawn,” the final novel in Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series. Part one is due in theaters Nov. 18, 2011.

Return to theaters

Elvis Presley is returning to the big screen in “Elvis on Tour: 75th Anniversary Celebration,” which will be shown July 29 at more than 460 theaters around the country (including Regal’s NorthTown 12 in Spokane and Riverstone Stadium 14 in Coeur d’Alene).

The film features remastered footage of concert performances and interviews from the 1972 documentary “Elvis on Tour,” the singer’s last film before he died in 1977, plus some unreleased footage.

It also includes a retrospective from former wife Priscilla Presley and a montage supervised by director Martin Scorsese.

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of Presley’s birth, it will be available as part of a box set featuring 17 of Elvis’ films presented in Blu-ray and DVD formats, set for release Aug. 3.