Mission Impossible Stays Atop Box Office To Close Out 2012

By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - On the final movie weekend of the year, the box office leader stayed the same.

With no new releases on the weekend menu, the top gun's mission remained very possible indeed. The thriller sequel Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol repeated as the box office winner for a second straight weekend, earning an estimated $30-million to take its cumulative total over the $130-million mark.

Another sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows remained in second place with a total of $22-million. Third place, yet another sequel, also remained the same: the kidflick, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, took in another $18-million.

Rounding out the top five were War Horse with a take of $17-million and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with a total of $16-million.

Overall, industry-wide totals were at about the same level as the counterpart weekend last year on the final weekend of what proved to be a subpar year at the box office.