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After typically slow earnings on Christmas Eve the box office came roaring back to life on Christmas Day, and the studios are expecting this surge to continue throughout Monday. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol easily topped the charts for the four-day weekend, while Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked had decent holds following their middling debuts. The only clear winner among the new releases was War Horse, which managed to nearly crack the Top 5 despite opening on Sunday. Based on studio estimates, the four-day weekend will end up at over $201 million, or up around 10 percent from the same four-day period last year.Trent ReznorSteven Spielberg

Even with three new movies entering the market this week, the top of the box office charts looked awfully familiar this Friday. After expanding to 3,448 locations, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol jumped ahead of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked to claim first place, a position it should be able to hold throughout the remainder of the holiday weekend. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was fine in fourth place, while The Adventures of Tintin and We Bought a Zoo were unable to lure family audiences in large numbers. The Top 10 earned over $37 million on Friday, which is just a tad up from the same date in 2005 (the last time Dec. 23 landed on a Friday), and it doesn't look like this batch of movies is going to do a whole lot to end 2011 on a high note. David Fincher

In one of the most crowded holiday seasons in recent memory, no fewer than seven movies are either opening in or expanding in to nationwide release this weekend. That's in addition to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which should both continue to have a strong presence. With so many offerings for audiences, the remainder of 2011 will almost certainly mark an improvement over a comparatively quiet 2010 holiday season.Tom CruiseSteven SpielbergMichelle Williams

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol opened throughout most of the world this weekend and took a commanding lead at the international box office. The fourth installment of the spy franchise debuted to $69.5 million in 42 markets representing approximately 70 percent of the marketplace. It was particularly impressive in South Korea ($11.4 million) and Japan ($9.3 million), and was also solid in Australia ($4.2 million) and Germany ($4.1 million). In all four of these markets, Ghost Protocol's opening marked a significant improvement over Mission: Impossible III.

While franchise titles did claim the top three spots at the box office this weekend, it wound up being a very mixed frame for sequels. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked both tallied solid grosses, though they were notably down from their predecessors. On the other hand, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol had a robust start in limited release. Even with all of these established brands entering the marketplace, overall box office ended up down around 12 percent from the same frame last year. Jason Reitman

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked were way off from their predecessors on opening day, which is the latest sign that audiences just aren't lining up for run-of-the-mill sequels. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, on the other hand, leveraged its unique IMAX presentation to score a strong third place start despite only playing in 425 locations. The Top 10 earned an estimated $34.7 million yesterday, which is down from the $41.3 million earned on the same Friday last year. Charlize TheronJason ReitmanDiablo Cody

Midnight Update: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows earned an estimated $1.25 million from midnight shows, or just a fraction of the $3.5 million that Avatar and Tron Legacy debuted to on the same weekends in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, on the other hand, opened to $1.1 million from evening and midnight shows yesterday, which is a strong start at just 425 locations. That's the same as Mission: Impossible III's midnight-only gross on over 2,000 screens in 2006.Robert Downey Jr.Jude LawBrad BirdTom CruiseChristopher NolanCharlize Theron

With Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol hitting theaters this weekend, it seemed like a logical time to take a look back at the year in sequels. And the results aren't pretty, at least at the domestic box office.

After gradually expanding in to the international marketplace over the past month and a half, Puss in Boots finally claimed first place at the overseas box office thanks to a handful of major openings. The movie grossed $47.1 million from 40 markets, 14 of which were new. Its biggest debut came in Germany, where its $7 million start was nearly double that of Shrek Forever After. It also opened well in Brazil ($5.9 million) and Australia ($4.1 million), though it was surprisingly soft in the United Kingdom ($3.1 million). The animated prequel was particularly impressive in Argentina, where its $2.7 million opening ranked fourth all-time. Puss in Boots has now made $143.7 million overseas, and is poised to pass $300 million worldwide (domestic plus foreign) in the next few days. Steven Spielberg

While it did finish in first place, New Year's Eve dropped the ball this weekend with a disappointing $13.02 million opening. Things were comparatively better for The Sitter, though Jonah Hill didn't impress in his solo debut. Adding these two movies to an already weak field turned out to be box office poison—overall grosses were at around $75 million, which is the worst weekend tally since Bangkok Dangerous opened on top of the chart with $7.8 million on the first weekend of September 2008. Michael CeraRussell BrandMartin ScorseseAlexander PayneJason ReitmanDiablo Cody

There probably weren't too many bottles of champagne popped over New Year's Eve's opening night performance. The ensemble romantic comedy managed to unseat The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, though it's now in line for a fairly slow debut weekend. Meanwhile, Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter failed to break out of the R-rated comedy rut.Alexander PayneGeorge Clooney

With two major wide releases hitting theaters this weekend, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1's three-week reign a top the box office charts will finally come to an end. Opening at 3,505 theaters, ensemble romantic comedy New Year's Eve will almost certainly claim first place, while Jonah Hill's solo debut The Sitter should wind up a distant second. Garry MarshallJason ReitmanDiablo Cody

For the third-straight weekend, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 remained unbeatable in the foreign marketplace. The movie added $40.4 million from 73 markets for an overseas total of $344.8 million. Including previews, it opened in first place in South Korea with $4.4 million (down a bit from Eclipse and New Moon). With $592.8 million worldwide (domestic plus foreign), Breaking Dawn already ranks as the sixth highest-grossing movie of the year, and it's currently on pace to finish with close to $700 million. Steven SpielbergJustin Timberlake

Another weekend, another win for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. The latest Twilight movie claimed the top spot at the box office for the third-straight weekend thanks to an average hold and a comparatively poor second-weekend performance from its biggest competitor, The Muppets. On an aggregate level, the Top 12 grossed under $74 million, which is slightly off from the same period last year ($78.3 million). Total box office wound up just over $81 million, which makes it the lowest-grossing weekend of 2011. Martin Scorsese

Heading in to the weekend, it looked like it was going to be a tight race for first place between The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and The Muppets. With Friday estimates in, though, Breaking Dawn has an overwhelming edge and will easily score its third-straight weekend on top of the box office.Adam Sandler

Even with an impressive turnout for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, box office was once again down year-over-year in the month of November. Total grosses came in at roughly $863 million, which is a 3.8 percent decline from 2010. Even worse, it was off 13 percent from 2009 despite significantly higher ticket prices. When accounting for the inflated ticket prices, estimated attendance was at its lowest point since at least 1995. Through the first 11 months of the year, the 2011 box office is off four percent from last year at around $9.3 billion, and it's going to take a mighty December to prevent a noticeable year-to-year decline.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is a notoriously slow one: in 2008 and 2010, for example, the weekend was the second-lowest grossing one in the entire year. With no new nationwide release, this weekend seems poised for a similar fate. Last weekend's Top Four movies are all holding at about the same theater count levels, and should all experience fairly steep declines. Michael Fassbender

On Thanksgiving Day, Paramount Pictures passed its previous yearly record of $1.714 billion in domestic earnings. Through Sunday, the company's $1.735 billion leads all studios for the year, including perennial winner Warner Bros. ($1.625 billion). In fact, Paramount now looks well-positioned to unseat Warner Bros. for the top spot for the first time since 2007. J.J. AbramsMartin Scorsese

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 topped the foreign box office for a second-straight weekend with $76 million from 68 markets. Its biggest opening came in Germany, where it debuted to $14 million including previews. That's an improvement over Eclipse but down a bit from New Moon. Excluding Germany's grosses, Breaking Dawn declined around 57 percent from last weekend. The biggest holdovers were the United Kingdom ($7 million), Russia ($6.5 million), France ($5.9 million), Australia ($5.23 million) and Spain ($4.6 million). Including Monday grosses, the movie has so far earned $285 million overseas for a worldwide (domestic plus foreign) total of $508.4, and it's set to expand in to South Korea next weekend. Steven Spielberg

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 easily repeated in first place at the box office over Thanksgiving weekend, while The Muppets revived the long-dormant franchise with a strong second place debut. Arthur Christmas and Hugo weren't quite as fortunate, though the true measure of their success will be determined over the next month.Martin ScorseseAlexander PayneKeira KnightleyViggo MortensenMichael Fassbender