'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' makes $30 million-plus at midnight showings

The beginning of the end of the "Twilight" movie franchise got off to a bloody good start in midnight screenings Thursday (Nov. 17), raking in more than $30 million at the box office.

"Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1" earned an estimated $30.25 million at 3,521 theaters that held midnight showings (the movie opened in 500 other theaters Friday morning). That's a high mark for the franchise, narrowly beating the $30.1 million "Eclipse" earned in midnight screenings in the summer of 2010.

It falls well short, though, of the all-time midnight record of $43.6 million set by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" in July.

Weekend box-office predictions for "Breaking Dawn Part 1" have ranged from $110 million to $150 million, and based on the midnight numbers it should land somewhere in that range. "New Moon" holds the opening-weekend record for the franchise, having made $142.8 million in November 2009.