Weekend Box Office: January 6 - 8

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo: 

1.  The Devil Inside - $33.7 million

2.  Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - $19.8 million

3.  Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - $13.6 million

4.  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - $11.3 million

5.  Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - $9.4 million

6.  War Horse - $8.6 million

7.  We Bought a Zoo - $8.3 million

8.  The Adventures of Tintin - $6.7 million

9.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - $5.4 million

10.  The Darkest Hour - $3.1 million

Time for a quick catch-up on the first box office weekend of the new year.  Usually, January proves to be a dumping ground for major releases, particularly horror films, but that didn't prove the case this past weekend as The Devil Inside open with an almost inexplicable $33.7 million.  That puts it right behind Cloverfield and the Star Wars Special Edition for the third highest January opening of all time - even more impressive when you also consider that The Devil Inside reportedly had a budget of around just $1 million.  However, with a Cinemascore rating landing somewhere around dreadful, and widespread reports of booing at the go-to-our-website-for-more ending, this exorcism mockumentary should fall hard next weekend.

The champ of the holidays, the excellent Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, dropped to second place this weekend with $19.8 million.  With a domestic total of $169 million, it has a decent shot at becoming the highest-grossing Mission Impossible film in the series (after the second film, which grossed $215 million) if it continues to play well into the winter. 

The other popular sequel destination over the holidays, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows stuck around in third place with $13.7 million.  After a slow start, the sequel hasn't quite caught up to the original film, but it's doing all right.  Also doing all right is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which landed in fourth place and had the smallest drop of the weekend, edging all that much closer to the coveted $100 million.  At least Sony is hoping so.

In fifth place was Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which passed the $100 million mark this week.  I have nothing good to say about that.  The other family film, The Adventures of Tintin, doesn't seem to be catching on Stateside, but has so far earned a better-than-expected $62 million. 

Steven Spielberg had much better news from War Horse, as the Oscar hopeful earned another $8.6 million, while fellow awards contender Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy expanded its theater count this weekend and earned an impressive $5.5 million.

Next weekend, Disney takes another classic for a spin on the 3D bandwagon, as Beauty & The Beast 3D opens in theaters.  Also opening is the Mark Wahlberg action flick Contraband, as well as the musical comedy Joyful Noise, starring Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, and soon-to-be-Newsies-star Jeremy Jordan.