The penultimate adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's bestselling vampire-on-human-with-a-little-bit-of-werewolf-on-the-side sexual allegory brought in an estimated $42 million since Friday.  Taking in the extended vacation time last week, though, Twilight brought in even more, as it earned $12.5 million on Wednesday and $7.8 million on Thanksgiving day.  With that added $20.3 million, Breaking Dawn's five day Thanksgiving total stands at an estimated $62.3 million.  So far, its domestic total stands at a whopping $221.3 million. 

That domestic total has landed the fourth Twilight the number five spot on the biggest movies of 2011, ahead of the total haul for Fast Five and behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  Nonetheless, Breaking Dawn is still comparatively being outpaced by New Moon, the commercial high water mark for Summit Entertainment's biggest property.  With this franchise's tendency to burn out relatively quickly, this installment will, in all likelihood, finish its run with less than $300 million in domestic earnings.  Don't cry for Edward and Bella, though, as the film has also raked in $225 million from international territories, as well.

For the return of Jim Henson's beloved puppet creations to the big screen, Disney pulled out all the stops, making Kermit, Miss Piggy, and co-writer/star Jason Segel inescapable presences in the popular culture.  Accordingly, The Muppets debuted strong in second place, bringing in an estimated $29.5 million over the actual weekend.  The film opened to $6.6 million on Wednesday and held remarkably well on Thursday with $5.9 million, bringing its five-day total to an estimated $42 million.

Last year, Disney's animated feature Tangled earned almost $70 million in the same time frame, but that was an animated event bolstered by 3D ticket prices.  While The Muppets arguably has the advantage of a familiar property, the cultural prominence of the Muppets has diminished significantly since 1999's Muppets from Space, and re-launching them presented an interesting challenge.  Also worth considering is the film's relatively modest production budget of $45 million, though promotional costs surely push that figure way up.

Arthur Christmas, the second computer-animated feature from Aardman Animation, debuted in fourth place, behind holdover Happy Feet Two, which continued to perform less favorably than its 2006 predecessor.  The seasonally-themed adventure made $4.25 million before the weekend proper and went on gross an additional estimated $12.7 million.  That $16.9 million opening is less than the $18.8 bow of Aardman's 2006 Flushed Away, and that film didn't benefit from inflated 3D prices.  Arthur Christmas will have to bank on increasing holiday cheer over the next several weeks.

The last big Thanksgiving release is Hugo, the first 3D film from none other than Martin Scorsese.  The film, based on Brian Selznick's kid-oriented novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, opened in fifth place, bringing in $11.4 million since Friday, with an additional $3.9 million from Wednesday and Thursday bringing its five day total to $15.3 million.  Interestingly, Hugo was the only film to improve from Wednesday to Thursday, jumping 40% on Thanksgiving.

The fifth-place opening might seem dismal, but it is important to note that Paramount rolled out the film in just 1,277 locations, as compared with 4,066 for Breaking Dawn and 3,376 for Arthur Christmas.  The studio is aiming to give Hugo a long theatrical life leading up to Christmas in the hopes that good word of mouth will allow for fruitful expansion into more theaters over the next several weeks.  The film's per-screen average of $8,888 is exceedingly strong and bodes well.

Speaking of strong pre-theater averages, The Descendants expanded into 433 locations and rounded out the top ten with an estimate of $7.2 million.  That's an average of more than $16,000 per location, which is fairly remarkable.  The Alexander Payne-directed drama has now pulled in $10.7 million total, and will be expanding over the coming weeks, building momentum and hopefully garnering more awards-season chatter.

Here's the full top ten for Thanksgiving weekend 2011:

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn                      $42.0 million         $221.3 million

2. The Muppets                                                         $29.5 million         $42..0 million

3. Happy Feet Two                                                    $13.4 million         $43.7 million

4. Arthur Christmas                                                  $12.7 million          $16.9 million

5. Hugo                                                                     $11.4 million          $15.3 million

6. Jack and Jill                                                          $10.3 million          $57.4 million

7. Immortals                                                             $8.8 million            $67.6 million

8. Puss in Boots                                                        $7.5 million            $135.3 million

9. Tower Heist                                                          $7.3 million            $65.4 million

10. The Descendants                                                $7.2 million            $10.7 million

The coming Friday won't see any real change in wide-release competition, but it will bring on the limited debut of the admirably NC-17 drama Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and starring the reliably awesome Michael Fassbender.