'M:I 4' Claims No 1 Spot at US Weekend B-O

DEC 26, 2011 - Even with three new movies entering the market this week, the top of the box office charts looked awfully familiar. After expanding to 3,448 locations, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol jumped ahead of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked to claim first place, a position it should be able to hold throughout the remainder of the holiday weekend.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo took fourth place, while The Adventures of Tintin and We Bought a Zoo were unable to lure family audiences in large numbers. The Top 10 earned over US$37 million on Friday, which is just a tad up from the same date in 2005 (the last time Dec. 23 landed on a Friday), and it doesn't look like this batch of movies is going to do a whole lot to end 2011 on a high note.

We Bought a Zoo debuted in sixth place with an estimated US$7.8 million in weekend gross. That's not an overly impressive start, though the movie does still have a chance to turn things around with children off from school next week.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Dec 23-25, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (3) Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (Paramount) $26.5 million ($58.9 million) 2

2. (1) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (WB) $17.8 million ($76.5 million) 2

3. (2) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (Fox) $13.3 million ($50.2 million) 2

4. (-) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sony) $13.0 million ($21.4 million) 1

5. (-) The Adventures of Tintin (Paramount) $9.1 million ($17.1 million) 1