Audiences head to the theatres over New Year's weekend

By Sarah Sluis

The top fourteen movies this week all performed better than last week. Despite these strong week-to-week holds, the box office overall was still down $8 million and 6% from last year. The national holiday on Monday made for a strong finish to the four-day weekend.

Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol showed that Tom Cruise is back. Its four-day total of $38.2 million was a 30% improvement from the previous week. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows also rose 30% to $26.5 million. The improvements for these blockbuster films were actually the weakest of the bunch.

Adding 171 theatres, War Horse moved from a cantor to a gallop, earning a whopping 155% more than last week for a $19.2 million four-day total. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also gained traction, with a 50% increase to $19 million that shows this thriller still has audiences to tap.

The romantic comedy New Year's Eve finally benefited from its topicality, showing a 133% increase to $7.7 million. That's as good as the ensemble movie's second weekend way back in mid-December.

Steven Spielberg-directed motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin increased 54% compared to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked's 67% improvement, proof that the high-pitched voices of the chipmunks are a siren song to youngsters.

Rising back into the top ten, The Descendants made 100% more than last week while adding another $4.2 million for a $40 million total. This indie definitely appears to be a crowd-pleaser, which could raise its profile come awards season.

The two indies posting the strongest per-screen averages were Pina and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The first, a 3D dance documentary, averaged $31,000 per screen in three locations. Tinker, the John Le Carre spy adaptation, held onto a $26,500 per screen average, even while playing in 57 locations. Finally, Warner Bros.' 9/11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close finished with a $24,800 per-screen average while playing in six locations.

The three specialty releases and awards hopefuls that squeaked in before the end of 2011 all showed incredibly strong debuts. It's no surprise that Meryl Streep's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady tallied $70,000 per screen in four locations. When was the last time Streep has done wrong? The Iranian drama A Separation earned $26,500 each in three locations, an admirable opening. Finally, Pariah made $16,300 per screen in three locations, an especially strong debut for a movie with limited visibility compared to its peers.

This Friday will be a quiet one for new releases as people continue to catch up on holiday releases. The horror release The Devil Inside will be the only new major addition to the lineup of wide releases.