LOS ANGELES, USA (AP) – The vampire romance The Twilight Saga: New Moon sucked up $140.7 million in its first three days and pulled in a total of $258.8 million worldwide, according to studio estimates yesterday.

The No 1 domestic debut for Summit Entertainment’s New Moon was more than twice the $69.6 million haul over the same weekend last year for Twilight, the first in the franchise based on Stephenie Meyer’s novels.

New Moon placed third on the all-time domestic chart behind last year’s $158.4-million opening weekend for the Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight and 2007’s $151.1-million haul for Spider-Man 3.

On Friday, New Moon set an all-time domestic high for opening day with $72.7 million, topping the previous record of $67.2 million had been held by last year’s The Dark Knight.

Overseas, New Moon debuted in 25 countries and took in $118.1 million.

New Moon continues the story of the teen romance between a school girl and a vampire (Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson), with the sequel adding a love triangle with a teen werewolf (Taylor Lautner).

Opening at No 2 this weekend was the Warner Bros football drama The Blind Side with $34.5 million.

The previous weekend’s top movie, Sony’s disaster tale 2012, slipped to third place with $26.5 million, raising its domestic total to $108.2 million.