Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ topped the North American box office for a second straight weekend, ringing in the New Year with $30 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday. The action film, the fourth in the series, thus far has taken in $133 million, according to Exhibitor Relations. In second place was ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’, a sequel to the 2009 film about the detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It took in $22.1 million in the third week since its release. In third place with $18.3 million was ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’, the third animated film about the adorable singing critters.
Fourth place went to Steven Spielberg’s ‘War Horse’, about the bond between a boy and his horse during World War I, which was expected to reap in $16.9 million. ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ — the Hollywood adaptation of the wildly popular Stieg Larsson novel, starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara – took in $16.3 million for fifth place. Family film ‘We Bought A Zoo’ starring Matt Damon finished in sixth place, taking in $14.3 million. Another Spielberg film, ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’ about an intrepid Belgian boy reporter, was seventh with $12 million. Star-studded holiday romance ‘New Year’s Eve’ earned $6.7 million for eighth place, while thriller ‘The Darkest Hour’ took ninth place with $4.3 million. Rounding out the top 10 was ‘The Descendants’ starring George Clooney, which grossed $3.7 million. Final figures were due out Tuesday, after the four-day New Year’s holiday weekend.
