As people around the world rang in the New Year, there was very little new on the face of America’s box office charts as no fresh wide releases arrived to meddle with the current calm. Still, the final festive weekend of 2011 brought solid earnings for most of the big films, with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol hanging on with glue gloves at the top of the charts, earning $31.2 million over the three days. Brad Bird’s blockbuster has now made $134.1 million in the US alone.
Also staying in place was Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, which sat in second with $22.1 million. Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked jumped up to third place, taking $18.2 million, while War Horse added cinemas and charged up to fourth from seventh, taking in $16.9 million. Rounding out the top five, we have T****he Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which made $16.3 million.
Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo remained locked in sixth place, adding $14.3 million to what must be a disappointing $$41.7 million US gross so far. Tintin continued to find less support in the US compared to Europe and the rest of the world, taking $12 million and falling to seventh. New Year’s Eve squatted in eighth with $6.7, and you’ve got to imagine that the appeal of that one will fall fast now we’ve passed the event itself. Alien invasion thriller The Darkest Hour, which snuck quietly on to the charts last week after a Christmas Day release in the US stayed in ninth place, earning just $4.3 million and a paltry $13.2 million so far. Finally, there was better news for The Descendants, which crept back into the top 10 with $3.6 million.
To initiate Ghost Protocol on the charts, head to Box Office Mojo.