Mission: Impossible tops New Year box office

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was the big winner at the New Year box office, with the sleuthing sequel clocking up a $31.25 million weekend to send its overall gross smashing through the $300 million mark.

The film comfortably knocked Sherlock Holmes 2 into second place on $22 million, with fellow sequel (or should that be squeakuel?) Alvin & The Chipmunks 3 taking third place on just over $18 million.

War Horse continued its steady if unspectacular performance with a $16.9 million weekend, while The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo rounded out the top five with takings of $16.3 million.

Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo sits in sixth place with $14.3 million, closely followed by The Adventures Of Tintin on a round $12 million. Seasonal slushfest New Year’s Eve is in eighth with a disappointing $6.7 million on the weekend of its namesake.

The Darkest Hour
and The Descendants complete the top ten with $4.3 million and $3.65 million respectively. No new releases this time out, but next week sees exorcism horror The Devil Inside attempting to scare its way to the summit. Although don’t be surprised to see Cruise and co. cling on for a little while yet…

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.