Box Office Update: "Impossible" overshadows "Sherlock"'s game

The latest "Holmes" flick is a tricky contraption of sort, wavering between bigger & better and louder & crasser than the first flick. Keep in mind, that first one had a great many detractors for me, but it came almost out of nowhere and created a dark atmosphere very in tune with director Guy Richie's other films, but it finally works here. In "A Game of Shadows", not so much. Mind you, I'll get slightly more in depth with my thoughts on the film later on, but for now it's simply worth representing how the box office dip between the first and the second films is indicative of the time there is to be had on each. They spent 30% more, and ended up with 30% less.

Not to say that it was a total failure. $40 million is still $40 million, even if there's a strong degree of work left to go. That's why we have the Christmas break to burgeon these opportunities. And even outside "Holmes", we saw strong signs for the box office. "Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked", in spite of horrid reviews, picked up its child audience skillfully without a hitch. Sure, it's not quite as much as they wanted, but they get what they payed for. They're rather good at that. But the big success story of the weekend was "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol", which picked up a hefty sum from its IMAX screens this weekend. That allied with the advanced buzz that is bound to boost its overall income means that it could very well be the massive hit of the holiday season, as well it should be. Check the charts after the jump.

1. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" (First Weekend; $40 million)

2. "Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" ("First Weekend; $23.5 million)

3. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (First Weekend; $13 million)

4. "New Year's Eve" (Second Weekend; $7.4 million)

5. "The Sitter" (Second Weekend; $4.4 million)

6. "Breaking Dawn" (Fifth Weekend; $4.1 million)

7. "Young Adult" (Second Weekend; $3.5 million)

8. "Hugo" (Fourth Weekend; $3.5 million)

9. "The Descendants" (Fifth Weekend; $3.5 million)

10. "The Muppets" (Fourth Weekend; $3.5 million)