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.

'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' trailer: Can you want to see a movie based on the music alone?

By Sarah Sluis

This week appears to be trailer week on Screener, since a number of high-profile films have released first-look teaser trailers. Today's trailer is for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which Focus is releasing stateside November 18th.

I fell in love with the trailer instantly because of its commanding, moody score. IMDB lists the composer as Johan Sderqvist, who also wrote the music for director Tomas Alfredson's 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In. Alfredson is the other reason to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. His previous film was haunting and resonant, with a masterful command of tone and suspense which made it a hit with non-horror fans. I imagine Alfredson will do a similar thing with the spy film. Based on a John Le Carr novel, the trailer looks decidedly NOT like an adaptation of a mass-market book. The feel is more The Lives of Others and less The French Connection (a.k.a. lots of chase scenes). And it's definitely not a Bourne movie.

If this movie hits, I'm sure it will pick up a lot of Oscar nods. Gary Oldman stars as a British spy who's called back from retirement to help root out a Russian mole. Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Ciarn Hinds, and Tom Hardy round out the impressive cast. Even though the movie's releasing late in the year to help position it as awards material, it looks like a perfect summer thrill ride. What I would give to see this released in July, freeing viewers from the oppression of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.