Cruise's 'Mission' maintains altitude with $38.3M

[January 03, 2012]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tom Cruise is off to a good start for the new year with a second-straight No. 1 weekend at the box office.

Cruise's "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" took in an estimated $38.3 million domestically over the long holiday weekend from Friday to Monday. That raised its total to $141.2 million.

"Ghost Protocol" also pulled in $37 million overseas to push its international total to $225.3 million and worldwide haul to $366.5 million.

The movie helped lift distributor Paramount to a record $5.17 billion in worldwide box office for 2011, topping the previous high of $4.8 billion set by Warner Bros. in 2010.

Paramount's 2011 hits included "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," which took in $1.1 billion worldwide, along with "Thor," "Captain America: The First Avenger," "Kung Fu Panda 2," "Puss in Boots" and "Rango."

Finishing second again for the weekend was Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" with $26.5 million. The family sequel "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" came in third with $21 million.

Rounding out the top-five were Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" at No. 4 with $19.2 million and David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" just behind at No. 5 with $19 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol," Paramount, $38,325,000, 3,455 locations, $11,093 average, $141,214,000, three weeks.

2. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," Warner Bros., $26,510,000, 3,703 locations, $7,159 average, $136,514,000, three weeks.

3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," Fox, $21,000,000, 3,724 locations, $5,639 average, $97,359,335, three weeks.

4. "War Horse," Disney, $19,219,000, 2,547 locations, $7,546 average, $45,248,000, two weeks.

5. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Sony, $19,000,000, 2,914 locations, $6,520 average, $60,011,000, two weeks.

6. "We Bought a Zoo," Fox, $16,500,000, 3,163 locations, $5,217 average, $43,987,317, two weeks.

7. "The Adventures of Tintin," Paramount, $15,000,000, 3,087 locations, $4,859 average, $50,841,000, two weeks.

8. "New Year's Eve," Warner Bros., $7,735,000, 2,225 locations, $3,476 average, $47,397,000, four weeks.

9. "The Darkest Hour," Summit, $5,250,000, 2,327 locations, $2,256 average, $14,228,000, two weeks.

10. "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, $4,250,000, 758 locations, $5,607 average, $40,274,646, seven weeks.

11. "The Muppets," Disney, $3,782,000, 1,541 locations, $2,454 average, $83,649,000, six weeks.

12. "Hugo," Paramount, $3,150,000, 951 locations, $3,312 average, $50,165,000, six weeks.

13. "Young Adult," Paramount, $2,700,000, 987 locations, $2,736 average, $12,667,000, four weeks.

14. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1," Summit, $2,650,000, 1,411 locations, $1,878 average, $276,094,901, seven weeks.

15. "The Sitter," Fox, $2,255,000, 1,348 locations, $1,673 average, $26,899,061, four weeks.

16. "The Artist," Weinstein Co., $1,664,500, 167 locations, $9,967 average, $5,400,000, six weeks.

17. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Focus, $1,428,726, 57 locations, $25,065 average, $4,298,998, four weeks.

18. "My Week With Marilyn," Weinstein Co., $1,173,933, 630 locations, $1,863 average, $9,184,000, six weeks.

19. "Puss in Boots," Paramount, $1,015,000, 389 locations, $2,609 average, $145,767,000, 10 weeks.

20. "Arthur Christmas," Sony, $900,000, 1,524 locations, $591 average, $46,118,000, six weeks.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

[Associated Press]

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