Perhaps even more impressive was that the film took in over $20,000 per theater, an unusually high number for a wide-release movie.

In the wake of the film’s first-weekend success, the Summit Entertainment studio announced over the weekend that it will produce New Moon, based on the second book in the internationally best-selling series of novels by Stephenie Meyer about the teen vampire Edward Cullen and high school girl Bella Swan. Lead actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart from Twilight will return to the same roles in New Moon, according to the announcement.

Also strong last weekend were Quantum of Solace (no. 2), Bolt (3), Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (4), and Role Models (5). All are genre films clearly put together with entertainment in mind.

Industry analysts say the stunning box office performance of Twilight, which was even significantly better than the $50 million analysts had expected it to bring in during its first weekend, along with the earlier success of Hannah Montana: The Movie, confirms teenage females as an important box office force.

It also confirms that people want movies that entertain as well as enlighten, and that political points and calls for radical social change do neither.