Los Angeles (E! Online) – Watchmen grossed an estimated $4.6 million in Friday midnight screenings, Exhibitor Relations reported today.

“It’s not high. It’s a decent gross for the [two-and-a-half-hour-plus] running time,” says Jeff Bock, a box-office analyst for the company. The numbers, he adds, “don’t tell us it’s going to be a huge blockbuster.”

Bock says the take signals somewhere around a $46 million to $50 million three-day gross, a debut that would put it in the neighborhood of Batman Begins, Superman Returns and Wanted, to name three comic-book releases, but leave it out of the reach of director Zack Snyder’s 300, which bowed with $70.8 million in 2007.

Among other recent midnight-launched movies, Watchmen came up short of Twilight ($7 million), and, unsurprisingly, a very long ways away from The Dark Knight (record $18.5 million.)

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All the returns aren’t in just yet, but it appears that 4 Christmases will knock Twilight out of the #1 slot for box office numbers this Thanksgiving Weekend. Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn appear to have the magic touch as their comedy has appealed to movie-goers of all ages. After a big win last weekend, Twilight appears to be headed for a #2 finish. Australia, the WWII epic drama starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, has lagged behind the leaders and may not even crack the Top 5.

Here is EW’s take on Thanksgiving Weekend Movies this holiday weekend.