'Twilight' shines in third box office win over Bond

Cast members Robert Pattinson (R), Kristen Stewart (C) and Taylor Lautner pose for pictures before the German premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 in Berlin, November 16, 2012. [Photo/Agencies] More photos: "Twilight" premieres in Berlin

The "Twilight" teen movie vampires sucked more money out of theaters over the weekend, leading James Bond, Brad Pitt and the rest of box office pack with $17.4 million in US and Canadian ticket sales and scoring its third weekly win.

Related: Vampires, James Bond lead record weekend

'Killing Them Softly' screens in New York

Pitt's new movie, the small-budget gangster film "Killing Them Softly," bombed with filmgoers who panned it with a rare "F" grade on average in polling by audience survey firm CinemaScore. The movie landed in seventh place with $7 million in ticket sales at domestic theaters.

The results were much brighter for "Breaking Dawn - Part 2," the fifth and final film in the "Twilight" vampire and werewolf saga, which has earned $254.6 million at North American (US and Canadian) theaters since its smash debut on November 16.

The top rankings were similar to last week's Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Related: Vampires, 007 may set record Thanksgiving sales

Bond movie "Skyfall" starring Daniel Craig as superspy 007 grabbed $17 million and held on to second place, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters. Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Lincoln," featuring a critically acclaimed performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th US president, kept the No 3 slot with $13.5 million.

A week ago, "Breaking Dawn - Part 2" and "Skyfall" helped push the five-day Thanksgiving weekend to a box office record. The success of the two films, plus upcoming releases such as fantasy prequel "The Hobbit" and musical "Les Miserables," are likely to power 2012 ticket sales to an all-time high, according to industry forecasts.

Related photos:

'The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey' premieres in Wellington	Cast members promote 'Les Miserables' in Tokyo

As of Sunday, year-to-date sales were running 5.9 percent ahead of the same point in 2011 at $9.9 billion, box office tracker Hollywood.com said.

Related: James Bond soars to box office record with 'Skyfall'

Critics were kinder than audiences to Pitt's "Killing Them Softly". Seventy-nine percent of reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website applauded the film, which blends a violent but comic gangster story with criticism of politicians' failure to address the economic crisis.

In the movie, Pitt plays a hitman brought in by mafia bosses to eliminate a group of thieves who raid a high-stakes poker game. The film is set in an unspecified US city marked by abandoned houses, closed shops and petty criminals and mobsters trying to get by.

The Weinstein Company distributed the movie, which was produced for less than $20 million by Annapurna Pictures, Inferno Entertainment, and Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment.