With a rating of only 52% on rottentomatoes.com, Twilight: Eclipse was officially labeled as, well, rotten. But unsurprisingly, this vampire/werewolf flick soared in box office sales this Independence weekend, landing itself in the top box office seat this weekend with an estimated $69 million in sales, putting it almost $30 million above runner-up, The Last Airbender.

In just five days, Eclipse has already pulled in $161 million, putting it solidly at seventh place in the highest-grossing five-day start ever. Although Eclipse is behind New Moon’s $164.7 million, it’s more than doubled Twilight’s $80.2 million. (Lautner’s abs really did some magic there, eh?)

A weekend exiting poll by Summit revealed that 65% of the audience was female and that 55% were 21 years of age and older. Personally, I was surprised by the amount of males in attendance. What part of two hot guys fighting over a girl and being way too romantic is appealing to them? Unless, of course, they’re taking notes, which I approve.

For better or for worse, I think we’ve seen that the Twilight series is going strong, and we can all look forward to Breaking Dawn in the future.

I’ve yet to watch this movie, so tell me: Was Eclipse all it was hyped up to be?

Sources: Here and here