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Cruise's 'Mission' a box-office success

Published:Tuesday | December 27, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is on a mission to attain the unattainable in 'Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol'. - contributed
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is on a mission to attain the unattainable in 'Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol'. - contributed
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LOS ANGELES (AP):

Hollywood has picked up a little Christmas bonus.

Studios generally underestimated the size of their movie audiences over the weekend, and they're now revising the holiday revenues upward.

Leading the way is Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which pulled in US$29.5 million for the weekend. That figure, which was calculated yesterday, is US$3 million more than distributor Paramount estimated a day earlier.

For the four-day period Friday to yesterday, Paramount estimates Ghost Protocol will have taken in US$46.2 million to raise its domestic total to US$78.6 million. That's on top of US$140 million the film has taken in overseas, giving it a worldwide haul of US$218.6 million.

Studios yesterday also reported stronger results than they did a day earlier for Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which was No. 2 at US$20.3 million for the three-day weekend and US$31.8 million for the four-day period; Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin at No. 5 with US$9.7 million over three days and US$16.1 million for four days; and Matt Damon's We Bought a Zoo at No. 6 with US$9.5 million over three days and US$15.6 million for four days.

In a tight race for the No. 4 spot were David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the family sequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

Dragon Tattoo did US$12.8 million over three days and US$19.4 million for four days. Chipwrecked took in US$12.7 million over three days and US$20 million for four days.

Other debuts

A few films debuted on Christmas Day, among them Spielberg's World War I epic War Horse, which took in US$7.5 million Sunday. Through Monday, its estimated two-day total is US$15 million.

Also debuting was Emile Hirsch's action thriller The Darkest Hour, which earned US$3 million Sunday and had a two-day total of US$5.5 million through Monday.

Opening solidly in just six theatres was Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock's September 11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which took in US$71,000 Sunday and US$136,000 through Monday. The film expands to nationwide release in January.

Despite the upward revision on some movies' revenues, the Christmas weekend continued a box-office slide that has persisted since Thanksgiving. Overall revenues from Friday to Monday totalled US$184 million, down 10 per cent from Christmas weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.