Thrillers Dominate Box Office Over Holiday Weekend

By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The thriller sequel, Mission Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, starring Tom Cruise, expanding from IMAX theaters only to thousands of multiplex screens, jumped from third place to first over the holiday weekend by earning an estimated $26-million in its second weekend of release.

Second place belonged to last weekend''s leader, another thriller sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which totaled $18-million.

Third place went to the kidflick, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which took in just over $13-million, while another thriller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the debuting American remake of the Swedish thriller, was fourth with $13-million.

Two other new films also finished in the top ten:

The Adventures of Tintin, the first animated adventure from director Steven Spielberg, was fifth with $9-million.

And We Bought a Zoo, the family dramedy with Matt Damon, placed sixth with $8-million.

Overall, the industry-wide sluggish, below-expectations performance continued, still down slightly from a year ago.