‘Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol’ Tops Weekend Box Office Collections

Tom Cruise's latest adventure as Agent Ethan Hunt - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - released by Paramount Pictures, topped the weekend box office collections, having grossed more than $26 million during the Christmas holiday weekend (Dec. 23 - Dec. 25), according to Rentrak.

The film is the fourth installment in the series and is director Brad Bird's first live-action film. It was released in North America on Dec. 16, to critical acclaim.

As of Dec. 25, the film scored 93 percent on film-critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 167 reviews, making it the best received of the series. Metacritic gave the film a score of 74 based on 36 reviews.

Worldwide collections, as of Dec. 23, total $162 million, with collections from North America weighing in at approximately $58 million.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, a sequel to the 2009 film, came a rather distant second, collecting $17.8 million during the Christmas holiday weekend.

The following is a list of Rentrak's top 12 domestic box office collection estimates for the Dec.23 - Dec.25 weekend...

Rank	Film Name	Distributor Name	Weekend Revenue	Cume Revenue	Locs	Loc Avg
1	Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol	Paramount	26,535,000	58,970,359	3,448	7,695
2	Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows	Warner Bros.	17,800,000	76,553,622	3,703	4,806
3	Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	20th Century Fox	13,325,000	50,265,187	3,734	3,568
4	The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo	Sony	13,000,000	21,376,473	2,914	4,461
5	The Adventures Of Tintin	Paramount	9,125,000	17,132,020	3,087	2,955
6	We Bought A Zoo	20th Century Fox	7,800,000	7,800,000	3,117	2,502
7	New Year's Eve	Warner Bros.	3,005,000	32,342,195	2,585	1,162
8	Arthur Christmas	Sony	2,700,000	44,168,002	1,804	1,496
9	Hugo	Paramount	2,025,000	43,652,413	1,236	1,638
10	The Muppets	Disney	2,003,000	75,559,525	1,752	1,143
11	The Descendants	Fox Searchlight	1,715,000	32,006,552	813	2,109
12	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn	Summit Entertainment	1,450,000	270,251,901	1,411	1,027