While our favourite supersleuth managed to top the box office this weekend, it was from a remarkable debut. Meanwhile, the Chipmunks delivered a lacklustre showing, while MI: 4 managed to rock theatres in limited release. Here’s the how the weekend turned out:
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows did debut at number one as predicted, but it was a far cry from the original’s $62 million debut. This time out, Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and director Guy Ritchie could only gross $40 million to claim the top, $15 million off from our prediction. The film should still cross the $100 million mark in North America, but I doubt it will get anywhere close to the first film’s gross of $209 milloon.
Debuting in second sppot as predicted is Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, the third film in the series. However, while the original film had a strong debut of $44 million back in 2007, this latest instalment could only squeak up $23 million, $4 million off from our predictions. Expect this to be the final big screen release for Alvin, Simon and Theodore for some time.
Kicking serious ass in limited release is Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth M:I film with Tom Cruise and the first to be shown strictly in IMAX for its first week in theatres. Those limitations didn’t stop the film from bringing in $13 million, $3 million more than we predicted. M:I 4 could buck the trend of underperforming holiday sequels this season if it can bring in the numbers when it goes into wide release next weekend.
As for the rest of the top 5, New Year’s Eve fell from first to fourth with $7.4 million as predicted, slightly less than predicted, while The Sitter managed to round out the top 5 with an abysmal $4.4 million. I hadn’t made a prediction on that one as I thought The Muppets could have finished in fifth – that film wound up in 10th spot for the weekend with $3.4 million.
So, to recap, here were our predictions:
1) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $55 million
2) Alvin and the Chipmunks – $27 million
3) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $10 million
4) New Year’s Eve – $8 million
5) The Muppets – $5.3 million
And here’s how the weekend turned out:
1) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $40 million
2) Alvin and the Chipmunks – $23 million
3) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $13 million
4) New Year’s Eve – $7.4 million
5) The Sitter – $4.4 million
Next weekend sees the release of David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tintin, while Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol goes into wide release. Check back on Friday to see which film will top the box office.
