Poster of the film "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" [Photo: douban.com]

Tom Cruise's latest film remained possibly the only bright spot against a slow and soft Christmas movie box office, as "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol", rebound from last weekend's No. 3 to edge out "Sherlock Homes 2" to rule the competitor.

As the fourth installment on the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, the Tom Cruise vehicle is projected by distributor Paramount to gross 26.5 million U.S. dollars in ticket sales over the three-day weekend including Christmas, after it took in 13 million dollars from 425 venues including IMAX theaters last weekend. It cost Paramount and co-financier Skydance Productions about 145 million dollars to make.

The actioner officially went wide Wednesday, to 3,448 locations, with its gross going up by 108 percent. The film is projected to gross 58.97 million dollars in ticket stubs during 10 days in business.

"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows", a sequel to the 2009 "Sherlock Holmes" film, which was a blockbuster hit, still cast spell on moviegoers, as the Warner Bros. thriller will take in 17.8 million dollars this weekend, or a 55 percent decrease from last week. It is on track to reap 76.55 million dollars since it debuted 10 days ago.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked", Fox's latest installment in the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, which was No. 2 last weekend, slipped to third spot this weekend, garnering 13.3 million dollars in sales. The 3D GGI/live-action hybrid about singing chipmunks is estimated to gross 50.3 million dollars 10 days in exhibition.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", Sony's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel, opened to No. 4 with 13 million dollars in sales. The Sony/Columbia thriller debuted in 2,914 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The controversy surround the movie is a good sign which is indicative of a solid word of mouth. Those who have seen the film gave it an average grade of A, market research firm CinemaScore said.

Opening at No. 5 is another Paramount picture, "The Adventures of Tintin", which is estimated to sell 9.1 million dollars in 3,087 theaters in North America. Paramount hoped the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson collaboration, which is an adaptation of the popular Herge comic, would rebound during or after the Christmas holiday weekend, as the holiday has been traditionally a time when moviegoers swarm theaters. "Yogi Bear", Warner Bros.' live-action/CG-animated adventure which hit the screen last Christmas, grossed more than 100 million dollars in sales after a slow start.

Rounding out the top 10 most popular films in North America this weekend, are:

- No. 6: "We Bought a Zoo", opening to 7.8 million dollars;

- No. 7: "New Year's Eve", 3 million dollars;

- No. 8: "Arthur Christmas", 2.7 million dollars;

- No. 9: "Hugo", 2 million dollars, and

- No. 10: "The Muppets", 2 million dollars.