Box Office: Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse' provides a Christmas surprise

Studios generally underestimated the size of their movie audiences over the weekend, and they're now revising the holiday revenues upward.

Leading the way is Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol," which pulled in $29.5 million for the weekend. That Monday figure is $3 million more than distributor Paramount estimated a day earlier.

For the four-day period Friday to Monday, Paramount estimates "Ghost Protocol" will have taken in $46.2 million to raise its domestic total to $78.6 million. That's on top of $140 million the film has taken in overseas, giving it a worldwide haul of $218.6 million.

Studios Monday also reported stronger results than they did a day earlier for Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," which was No. 2 at $20.3 million for the three-day weekend and $31.8 million for the four-day period; Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" at No. 5 with $9.7 million over three days and $16.1 million for four days; and Matt Damon's "We Bought a Zoo" at No. 6 with $9.5 million over three days and $15.6 million for four days.

In a tight race for the No. 4 spot were David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the family sequel "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked."

"Dragon Tattoo" did $12.8 million over three days and $19.4 million for four days. "Chipwrecked" took in $12.7 million over three days and $20 million for four days.

A few films debuted on Christmas Day, among them Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse," which took in $7.5 million Sunday. Through Monday, its estimated two-day total is $15 million.

Also debuting was Emile Hirsch's action thriller "The Darkest Hour," which earned $3 million Sunday and had a two-day total of $5.5 million through Monday.

Opening solidly in just six theaters was Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock's Sept. 11 drama "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," which took in $71,000 Sunday and $136,000 through Monday. The film expands to nationwide release in January.

Despite the upward revision on some movies' revenues, the Christmas weekend continued a box-office slide that has persisted since Thanksgiving. Overall revenues from Friday to Sunday totaled $128 million, down 10 percent from Christmas weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol," Paramount, $46,210,000, 3,448 locations, $13,402 average, $78,645,000, two weeks.

2. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," Warner Bros., $31,810,000, 3,448 locations, $9,226 average, $90,564,000, two weeks.

3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," Fox, $20,000,000, 3,734 locations, $5,356 average, $56,940,187, two weeks.

4. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Sony, $19,400,000, 2,914 locations, $6,658 average, $27,716,000, one week.

5. "The Adventures of Tintin," Paramount, $16,100,000, 3,087 locations, $5,215 average, $24,107,000, one week.

6. "We Bought a Zoo," Fox, $15,600,000, 3,117 locations, $5,005 average, $15,600,000, one week.

7. "War Horse" (opened Sunday), Disney, $15,025,000, 2,376 locations, $6,324 average, $15,025,000, one week.

8. "The Darkest Hour" (opened Sunday), Summit, $5,500,000, 2,324 locations, $2,367 average, $5,500,000, one week.

9. "New Year's Eve," Warner Bros., $4,950,000, 2,585 locations, $1,915 average, $34,287,000, three weeks.

10. "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, $3,425,000, 813 locations, $4,213 average, $33,716,552, six weeks.

11. "The Muppets," Disney, $3,355,000, 1,752 locations, $1,915 average, $76,911,000, five weeks.

12. "Hugo," Paramount, $3,300,000, 1,256 locations, $2,627 average, $44,927,000, five weeks.

13. "Arthur Christmas," Sony, $3,100,000, 1,804 locations, $1,718 average, $44,062,000, five weeks.

14. "The Sitter," Fox, $3,000,000, 1,786 locations, $1,680 average, $23,488,202, three weeks.

15. "Young Adult," Paramount, $2,775,000, 987 locations, $2,812 average, $8,184,000, three weeks.

16. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1," Summit, $2,150,000, 1,603 locations, $1,341 average, $270,951,901, six weeks.

17. "The Artist," Weinstein Co., $1,402,000, 167 locations, $8,395 average, $2,900,430, five weeks.

18. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Focus, $1,210,160, 55 locations, $22,003 average, $2,311,670, three weeks.

19. "My Week with Marilyn," Weinstein Co., $888,000, 602 locations, $1,475 average, $7,307,196, five weeks.

20. "Puss in Boots," Paramount, $685,000, 389 locations, $1,761 average, $143,935,000, nine weeks.Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.