© Paramount
Dec. 26, 2011, 11:58 AM EST
The
Tom Cruise action movie ruled the multiplex throughout the holiday weekend -- and helped boost overall box office numbers to 3 percent above the same four-day period last year.
"M:I:4" is looking at $46.2 million for the four-day weekend.
Those numbers pretty much matched expectations for Christmas Day, but there was a surprise: "
War Horse,"
Steven Spielberg's PG-13 World War I epic "War Horse" opened to a particularly robust $7.5 million on Sunday. The DreamWorks picture is expected to gross another $7.5 million on Monday.
Considering that Disney, which distributes for DreamWorks, figured the movie would pull in $6 million over both days, the number is especially impressive.
Sunday's other new movie, Summit/New Regency's PG-13 sci-fi thriller "
The Darkest Hour," opened to $3 million -- in line with studio projections. That movie, which the audience polling company Cinemascore gave a harsh "C+" grade, is expected to gross $5.5 million through Monday.
And opening in limited release, the Warner Bros. "
Extremely Loud an Incredibly Close" debuted at six locations in three cities Sunday, grossing $71,861 -- a per-location average of about $12,000.
But the weekend belonged to "M:I:4."
"Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol," which cost an estimated $145 million to make, grossed $29.5 million over the three days from Friday to Sunday and $46.2 million from Friday to Monday. That gives the Paramount/Skydance movie a domestic total of $78.64 million.
The PG-13 movie is on track to beat the 2006 "
Mission: Impossible III," which grossed $134 million domestically and nearly $264 million abroad. It also looks like Tom Cruise's biggest hit since the second "Mission: Impossible" movie -- the 2000 "
Mission: Impossible II," which took in $215.4 million domestically and nearly $331 million internationally.
"M:I:4," directed by Brad Bird, is playing at 3,448 domestic locations in its second week of release..
The No. 2 movie of the weekend was "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," which took $20.2 million over three days and $31.8 million over four. It played at 3,703 locations and has a total of $90.56 million.
That movie, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, cost about $125 million to make. It opened to $39.6 million on Dec. 16.
Here are the top 10 movies of the four days:
"Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" ($46.2m)
"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" ($31.8m)
"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" ($20m)
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ($19.4m)
"
The Adventures of Tintin" ($16.1m)
"
We Bought a Zoo" ($15.6m)
"War Horse" ($15m)
"The Darkest Hour" ($5.5m)
"
New Year's Eve" ($5m)
"
The Muppets" ($3.35m)
