Vampire romance The Twilight Saga: New Moon sucked up 258.8 million US dollars worldwide in its first three days of release.

The film, which stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, made 140.7 million dollars in the US, according to studio estimates, more than twice the 69.6 million haul over the same weekend last year for Twilight, the first in the franchise.

New Moon had the third biggest opening weekend in the US, 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.

New Moon debuted in 25 countries and took in 118.1 million dollars outside of the US.

The film continues the story of teen romance between a school girl (Kristen) and a vampire (Robert), with the sequel adding a love triangle with a werewolf (Taylor).

Stephanie Meyer's books, on which the films are based, have been a phenomenon among women and girls, and females made up 80 per cent of the audience for New Moon.

Opening at No. 2 in the US this weekend was the Warner Bros. football drama The Blind Side, which took in 34.5 million US dollars.

The film stars Sandra Bullock in the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher, who was a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy family and enrolled in private school.

The previous weekend's top movie, Sony's disaster tale 2012, slipped in to third place with 26.5 million dollars, while Planet 51 was the No 4 entry with a 12.6 million dollar debut.