Weekend Box Office

For the week of December 16-18.


　
1. Sherlock Holmes 2 - $40.02 million (WB) - 1 wk
. . . 3703 screens / $10,807 per screen
2. Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 - $23.5 - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 3723 / $6312
3. Mission: Impossible 4 - $13 - 1 wk (Par)
. . . 425 / $30,588
4. New Year's Eve - $7.42 ($24.83) - 2 wks (WB) -43%
. . . 3505 / $2117
5. The Sitter - $4.4 ($17.72) - 2 wks (Fox) -55.3%
. . . 2752 / $1599
6. Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 - $4.3 ($266.4) - 5 wks (Sum) -45%
. . . 2958 / $1454
7. Young Adult - $3.65 ($4.09) - 2 wks (Par) +1076%
. . . 986 / $3702
8. Hugo - $3.63 ($39.07) - 4 wks (Par) -40.1%
. . . 2532 / $1432
9. Arthur Christmas - $3.6 ($38.54) - 4 wks (Sony) -44.7%
. . . 2929 / $1229
10. The Muppets - $3.45 ($70.93) - 4 wks (BV) -50.5%
. . . 2808 / $1230
11. The Descendants - $3.35 ($28.73) - 5 wks (FS) -23.5%
. . . 878 / $3815
12. Jack & Jill - $1.23 ($70.5) - 6 wks (Sony) -60.3%
. . . 1910 / $641

The real winner here is Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  In opening in IMAX-only a week before its wide release, it's generated buzz as the event film of the winter.  Not so fortunate were the two sequels for Sherlock Holmes and Alvin & the Chipmunks.  Depends on the legs they have through Christmas, but with all the competition coming, it doesn't look good.

To put the numbers in perspective, the top four grossers this weekend were $83.94 million.

In 2010 - $85 million (Tron Legacy, Yogi Bear, Chronicles of Narnia 3, The Fighter)
In 2009 - $105 million (Avatar, Princess & the Frog, The Blind Side, Did You Hear About the Morgans)

Now next week, you have Mission Impossible expanding, The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, We Bought A Zoo, War Horse and The Darkest Hour.  It means movies like The Sitter and jack & Jill cannot be expunged from theaters fast enough.