Future Hit - New Moon

As much as I loathe the franchise, one cannot deny its popularity. The first Twilight movie grossed over $191 million after an incredibly frontloaded opening weekend (it dropped a whopping 40% on its 2nd day). The next installment, New Moon, hits theaters November 20th.

I can't find any reason why the sequel would gross any less as the fanbase has only increased since last year and the production values look to have gone up drastically for a more "blockbuster" feel. The real question is how much it will go up. I've put together a list of the biggest sequel jumps in recent years:

1. Terminator 2 - 433%
2. The Spy Who Shagged Me - 282%
3. Rambo: First Blood Part II - 219%
4. The Road Warrior - 171%
5. Highlander II - 164%
6. Evil Dead 2 - 147%
7. Lethal Weapon 2 - 126%
8. Bad Boys II - 111%
9. Meet the Fockers - 68%
10. Shrek 2 - 65%
11. Rush Hour 2 - 60%
12. Saw II - 58%
13. From Russia with Love - 54%
14. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls - 50%
15. American Pie 2 - 42%
16. Die Hard 2 - 42%
17. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - 39%
18. X2: X-Men United - 37%
19. The Mummy Returns - 30%
20. Toy Story 2 - 28%
21. The Karate Kid Part II - 27%
22. Hellboy II - 27%
23. Hannibal - 26%
24. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 26%

The most comparable ones are Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean. I see around a 40% jump over Twilight, which would put New Moon at around $280 million for the Christmas season. Simply massive. We can only hope 2012 will beat it.