'M:I:4' Passes $100M Domestically, Leads the Weekend

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Updated Saturday, 9:40 a.m. PT

The last weekend of 2012 is giving the box office reason to cheer: "Mission: Impossible 4" pulled in nearly $11 million on Friday -- and has crossed the $100 million mark domestically.

It is the second film of the holiday season to hit that mark.

The Warner Bros. action film "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" has now grossed an estimated $117.7 million. It took in $7.65 million on Friday. 

Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," meanwhile, grossed $7.1 million Friday for a total of $83.5 million.

In limited release, "Iron Lady," the Weinstein Company's biopic about Margaret Thatcher, took in a solid $76,348 at four locations -- an average of $19,087 per location.

The continuing strength of "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" is especially noteworthy because the Paramount/Skydance movie has now surpassed two milestones. On Thursday, it crossed the $100 million mark domestically and the $300 million mark worldwide.

By the end of this weekend, Paramount expects the film will have taken in nearly $143 million domestically.

Other movies now in wide release are having mixed results:

Sony's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" took in $5.35 million on Friday. Fox's "We Bought a Zoo" grossed $4.9 million. DreamWorks' "War Horse" drew $4.7 million. And Paramount's "The Adventures of Tintin" managed $4.4 million.

Earlier:

The 2011 box office will officially close its books this weekend, with no new movies debuting in wide release. Christmas holiday holdovers "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" and "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" are expected to lead what is typically a weak New Year's weekend frame.

As usual, a handful of specialty movies will use the schedule opening to make their limited debuts: Among them, Focus Features' "Pariah," which opened in four New York and California theaters Wednesday, averaging an impressive $5,456 per location; and the Weinstein Company's "Iron Lady," a Margaret Thatcher biopic starring Meryl Streep, opening at four locations Friday.

Also read: Review: Meryl Streep's 'Iron Lady' Is Margaret Thatcher as King Lear With a Wink

Paramount's "M:I:4," directed by Brad Bird and shot at a cost of about $145 million, had grossed an estimated $94.6 million domestically and $180 million internationally through Wednesday.

The Tom Cruise thriller is expected to gross another $40 million over the long four-day holiday weekend.

After getting out of the gate slow in mid-December, meanwhile, Warner's "Sherlock Holmes" sequel has found momentum at the box office and aims to keep it this weekend.

The Guy Ritchie movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, grossed $39.6 million in its first weekend -- significantly less than the $62.3 million that its predecessor, the 2009 "Sherlock Holmes," took when it opened.

But the PG-13 movie, which cost $125 million to make, has steadily attracted audiences. On Wednesday, it became the first film of the holiday season to cross the $100 million threshold domestically.

source :http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/01/idUS266247486020120101