LOS ANGELES  “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” drew an estimated $161 million out of North American theaters in its first five days of release, a spectacular if not quite record-breaking result. And in a surprise, audiences defied critics to make “The Last Airbender” No. 2.

Box office analysts said the gross was big enough to rank “Eclipse” third on Hollywood’s all-time list of Wednesday-opening movies, behind “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009) and “Spider-Man 2 ” (2004), when adjusted for inflation. Summit Entertainment, the studio behind “Eclipse,” projected that the movie would sell another $20 million on Monday for a six-day domestic total of about $181 million.

“Eclipse,” which was easily the No. 1 picture between Friday and Sunday, has sold an additional $100.2 million overseas, Summit said. It has yet to open in important international markets like Germany, France and Britain.

“We’re particularly thrilled that this third movie broadened and deepened the franchise,” said Richie Fay, Summit’s president for domestic distribution, alluding to exit polls indicating that the audience was 35 percent male. The turnout for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the second film in the series, was only about 20 percent male, and that was higher than the first.