Fantasy dominates the box office and New Moon is best of all

Although final figures are still to be confirmed, New Moon has already set some box office records. The Twilight Saga novels of Stephenie Meyer's are adding significantly to the long-lasting popularity of fantasy in all its forms - movie, book and comic.

The Friday total of $72.7 million from 4,024 North American theaters for New Moon has broken the previous All-Time Friday and also the Single Day records of $67 million set by 2008's The Dark Knight.

Included in the Friday total is the $26.27M that New Moon took in 12:01am screenings from 3,514 theaters. That set a new Midnight Opening record, smashing both The Dark Knight's $18.4M set on July 18 2008 and also Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince's $22.2M set on July 15 2009.

Assuming New Moon hits $140m for the weekend, it won't break the all-time Opening Weekend record set by The Dark Knight of $158.4M in 2008 or the second place of Spider-Man 3 at $151.M in 2007. But it does jump into the No. 3 spot previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with $135.6M in 2006.

New Moon has also doubled the totals of Twilight from a year ago, which earned $36M on its first Friday and $69.7M for the opening weekend.

Leona Lewis live launch for her album - Amazing

As an ex-vocalist I'd like to mention that Leona Lewis has a remarkable voice, both in the studio and live.

When writing about her cover of Run I mentioned how she uses the full emotion and control that helps place her in the top 10 female vocalists of modern times. From passion early on she opens those wonderful vocal chords for a huge & powerful bridge that still sends shivers up my spine.

When music carries great emotion & passion that can be captured by the singer, that is a great achievement - whatever the genre of music.

With the new album Echo we have another great treat in store and that is already being revealed with a home-made, low-quality video of Brave that's on YouTube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT1UYvKpswQ ).

Even allowing for the poor quality, it is clear Leona has power and passion to burn. It is thrilling to see (photo shows Leona Lewis in her fantastic dress for the launch concert for Echo) and hear this young woman already reaching the heights few come near.