By Monday, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will have surpassed Mission: Impossible III‘s $134 million domestic take. Ghost Protocol brought in $10.7 million on Friday and should land just shy of $30 million for the three-day and end up with something around $40 million for the four-day holiday weekend. It’s also closing in quickly on the third film’s $397 million worldwide take as it currently sits at $304 million.
How will the success of this film be judged as it eyes the $180 million the first film brought in in 1996 ($325m adjusted for inlfation) and the $215 million the second film brought in in 2000 ($318m adjusted for inflation)? It’s obviously a money earner, but it is the kind of success that will have Paramount rushing to get a fourth film in the making or will we be looking at four years or more before Jeremy Renner takes over for Ethan Hunt?
In second, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows is now up to $117 million with $7.6 million on Friday and a likely weekend around $19 million followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked with $7.1 million.
In fourth place is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with $5.3 million and a likely weekend of $13.5 million as it’s pretty much assured this film won’t be lighting the box-office on fire, but this is probably the best we could have expected from such a dark thriller over the Christmas holiday. However, foreign markets have yet to weigh in with it only opening wide overseas last weekend and results are not yet in.
One interesting result this weekend is Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, which opened with $7.5 million last Sunday and on Friday was only able to muster $4.6 million as it added 171 theaters. It will likely end the weekend around $12 million, which is less than I would have expected. Of course, with a $66 million budget it will do just fine on the money end, but what does this less than stellar result mean for its Oscar chances?
Elsewhere, the Weinstein Co. debuted The Iron Lady this weekend in only four theaters where it brought in $76,300 on Friday for a solid $19,075 per theater average despite largely negative (and deserved) reviews. And Warner Bros. kept Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in only six theaters where it managed another $37,000 on Friday for a $6,167 per theater average.
I have included Friday’s top ten below and will be back on Sunday with a complete wrap-up. I hope you all have a Happy New Year’s Eve and aren’t too hungover to read my report.
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $10.7 million
- Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows – $7.6 million
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked – $7.1 million
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – $5.3 million
- We Bought a Zoo – $4.9 million
- War Horse – $4.6 million
- The Adventures of Tintin – $4.3 million
- New Year’s Eve – $2.2 million
- The Darkest Hour – $1.7 million
- The Descendants – $1.1 million
Numbers provided by Box-Office Mojo.
