January 2, 2012 by Vinnie Leduc
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol held onto the top spot in the domestic office over New Year’s weekend as no new wide releases opened. After a record-setting limited release in IMAX two weeks ago and winning the Christmas box office last weekend, Tom Cruise’s fourth installment of the TV series-based spy franchise has overtaken Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which took second place again, in total gross despite both films officially opening the same weekend.
Another sequel that opened that weekend, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, came in third over the New Year’s weekend as it readies to cross the $100 million mark. Looks like we haven’t seen the last of those childhood-raping squeaky bastards.
David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo grabbed fourth place, and Steven Spielberg’s War Horse climbed to fifth with the help of good word-of-mouth. Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo also rode strong word-of-mouth to take sixth place. While many films this weekend increased in gross revenue (an impressive rarity these days), We Bought A Zoo‘s 41% increase was the second best ever for a wide release in 3,000+ theaters in its second weekend. However, keep in mind that it had a late Christmas Day opening last weekend.
Steven Spielberg’s other film, the mo-cap animated adventure The Adventures of Tintin, dropped out of the top 5 (switching places with his War Horse) despite its huge success overseas and securing a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.
Here were the top 5 in the domestic box office last weekend via BOM:
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol — Weekend Gross: $29.6 million — Total Gross: $134.5 million (#1 last week)
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows — Weekend Gross: $21.0 million — Total Gross: $131 million (#2 last week)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked — Weekend Gross: $16.4 million — Total Gross: $92.7 million (#4 last week)
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo — Weekend Gross: $14.8 million — Total Gross: $55.8 million (#3 last week)
- War Horse — Weekend Gross: $14.4 million — Total Gross: $40.4 million (new)