Mission Impossible Tops Breaking Dawn

That Mission: Impossible IV – Ghost Protocol would easily top the North American box-office this four-day New Year's weekend was no surprise. Directed by Brad Bird (Ratatouille) and starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, and Paula Patton, MI4 brought in $38.32 million (+30%) as per studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. Weekend box-office actuals will be released tomorrow. [Photo: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart in Breaking Dawn Part 1.]
At a distant no. 2, Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Jr/Jude Law's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows collected $26.51 million (+31%), followed by Mike Mitchell's Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked's $21 million (+67%). Rounding out the top five were Steven Spielberg's War Horse with $19.21 million (+156%) and David Fincher/Daniel Craig/Rooney Mara's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with $19 million (+49%). The last two movies may switch positions when actual box-office numbers are released tomorrow.
The biggest surprise among the top fifteen movies was the unexpected resurgence of Bill Condon's Breaking Dawn Part 1. Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, the fourth Twilight movie added $2.65 million, landing at no. 14.
Despite the loss of nearly 200 locations, Breaking Dawn 1 was up 81% compared to the previous weekend; its box-office jump was the third-highest surge this extended weekend, following — not unexpectedly — Gary Marshall/Zac Efron/Michelle Pfeiffer's New Year's Eve with +134% and (less predictably) Alexander Payne/George Clooney's The Descendants with +105% after adding five locations. (I'm not including War Horse's 156% jump because the Spielberg movie opened on Sunday last week. In other words, that weekend's take reflected only one single day; hence the major surge.)
After seven weekends out, Breaking Dawn 1's domestic cume currently stands at $276.09m. Its reported cost was $110m. The fantasy romance also features Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Michael Sheen, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Dakota Fanning, and Kellan Lutz.

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