‘The Blind Side’ eclipses ‘New Moon’ with $20 million

? The football-inspired drama “The Blind Side” has become the underdog hit of the season with a $20.4 million weekend and a box-office victory over “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

The Warner Bros. sports tale had been runner-up for the previous two weekends to Summit Entertainment’s vampire romance “New Moon,” which fell to second place with $15.7 million.

Great word-of-mouth from fans has sustained “The Blind Side,” which stars Sandra Bullock, above, as a woman whose family adopts homeless teen Michael Oher, now a rookie tackle for the Baltimore Ravens.

“New Moon” still is far ahead in total gross with $255.6 million domestically, compared to $129.3 million for “The Blind Side.” Overseas, “New Moon” added $40.7 million to raise its international total to $314.5 million and its worldwide gross to $570.1 million.

“The Blind Side” and “New Moon” fended off a rush of new wide releases that had so-so to abysmal openings.

The nationwide debuts were overshadowed by a huge premiere in limited release for George Clooney’s comedy “Up in the Air,” which took in nearly $1.2 million at just 15 theaters for a whopping average of $79,000 a cinema.

Directed by Jason Reitman (“Juno”), Paramount’s “Up in the Air” has earned great reviews and buzz as a potential Academy Awards front-runner.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com.

  1. “The Blind Side,” $20.4 million.

  2. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” $15.7 million.

  3. “Brothers,” $9.7 million.

  4. “Disney’s a Christmas Carol,” $7.5 million.

  5. “Old Dogs,” $6.9 million.

  6. “Armored” (tie), $6.6 million.

  7. “2012” (tie), $6.6 million.

  8. “Ninja Assassin,” $5 million.

  9. “Planet 51,” $4.3 million.

  10. “Everybody’s Fine,” $4 million.