Can Eclipse Be the Biggest Thing Ever?

Rating the Twilight sequel's shot at all-time box-office records—including, yup, Avatar's

Are Avatar's days numbered? How about The Dark Knight's? New Moon's?

Or to put it another way: Will Eclipse, opening midnight Wednesday, eclipse everything to become the biggest thing ever, ever, ever in the box-office world?

Let's look at the top records up for grabs—and take some wild guesses: 

God of Midnight: It's in Eclipse's DNA to take this title. New Moon scored the midnight record last November with a phenomenal $26.3 million night-owl debut. Eclipse is showing every sign—year-best advance-ticket sales, added 3 a.m. screenings—of living up to its elder Twilight sibling.  

Speediest Speed Demon: New Moon owns the records for biggest opening and single-day grosses, with one impossibly huge $72.7 million bow. Sorry, did we say impossible? Box Office Guru editor Gitesh Pandya told us he thinks Eclipse has a shot. "The franchise is as strong as ever," Pandya said, "and the summer release will allow for better repeat business."

Loudest Fourth of July Firecracker: Sorry, Spider-Man 2, your three-day, $88.2 million Independence Day weekend record, is a good bet to get beat. BoxOffice.com editor Phil Contrino is calling for a $95 million Friday-Sunday. "This is a movie that is going to be extremely front-loaded," Contrino said.

Best. Opening. Weekend. Ever.: The Dark Knight's $158.4 million haul has withstood almost two summers of competition now. And it'll probably withstand Eclipse's challenge, too. "If a Twilight movie was opening on a Friday during a summer, I've always been of the opinion it would give Dark Knight a run for its money," Contrino said, "but it's going to be too spread out for that to happen [for Eclipse]."

All-time No. 1 Movie Ever, Ever, Ever—Domestic Division: Uh, no, to answer our initial question, Avatar's days are not numbered. "Eclipse will be huge for sure," Pandya said, "but I don't see it becoming the biggest hit of all-time." (Avatar has grossed $750 million here—and still counting.) Both Pandya and Contrino think Eclipse could top $300 million domestically, which would make it the biggest Twilight movie to date.

No slouch of a record at that.