Despite silent nights recently at movie theaters, "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" raised its total to $59 million since it started a week earlier in huge-screen cinemas and expanded nationwide last Wednesday. Distributor Paramount estimated that revenues will reach $72.7 million by Monday.
Predictions from studio executives that 2011 could be a record-setter that would finish with a bang have not materialized, as domestic revenues remained stuck at a sluggish pace that has lingered all year.
Generally well-reviewed movies from Steven Spielberg ("The Adventures of Tintin"), David Fincher ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") and Cameron Crowe ("We Bought a Zoo") - with casts that include Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Daniel Craig - opened with modest to weak results.
The top 10 films of the weekend were:
1. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," $26.5 million.
2. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $17.8 million.
3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," $13.3 million
($20.1 million international).
4. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," $13 million.
5. "The Adventures of Tintin," $9.1 million.
6. "We Bought a Zoo," $7.8 million ($1.1 million
international).
7. "New Year's Eve," $3 million.
8. "Arthur Christmas," $2.7 million ($9.7 million
international).
9. "Hugo," $2.03 million.
10. "The Muppets," $2 million ($500,000 international).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
