Mission: Impossible 4 to Ring in the New Year On Top

No new movies hit theaters in wide release this New Year's 2012 weekend, so look for Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, to retain the lead with it's strong word of mouth. It's also that weird time of year when the weekday gross out-grosses the weekend gross. Anyways, here are the predictions:

My Predictions:

Movie Mission Impossible 4 Sherlock Holmes 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The Adventures of Tintin	Weekend Gross (millions) $27 $20 $13 $12 $11

Mission: Impossible 4 Leads Christmas Box Office

The newest installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise easily took the top spot at the box office this Christmas weekend, albeit a bit lower than expected. But, then again, Christmas lands on a weekend this year and most moviegoers are stuck at home with their families. Meanwhile, newcomers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin and We Bought A Zoo have even softer openings. Expect strong ticket sales throughout the week as a lot of people have the week off from work.


Weekend Estimates

Movie	Weekend Gross	Total Gross	Budget
1) Mission: Impossible 4 2) Sherlock Holmes 2 3) Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 4) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 5) The Adventures of Tintin 6) We Bought a Zoo 7) New Year's Eve 8) Arthur Christmas 9) Hugo 10) The Muppets	$26.5 million $17.8 million $13.3 million $13 million $9.1 million $7.8 million $3 million $2.7 million $2 million $2 million	$59 million $76.6 million $50.3 million $21.4 million $17.1 million $7.8 million $32.3 million $44.2 million $43.7 million $75.6 million	$145 million $125 million $75 million $90 million $135 million $50 million $56 million $100 million $170 million $45 million

Mission Impossible 4 Ready to Conquer Christmas Weekend

And a rather crowded weekend at the box office it is too and also a tough one to predict since the last few weekends have been underwhelming, despite big releases.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Hit Factor: Great reviews, doing well in limited release.
Flop Factor: Lots of other movie this Holiday Season



The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hit Factor: Director David Fincher's movies always turn out well.
Flop Factor: A lot of people saw the original Swedish version just a short while ago... what makes this so different?



The Adventures of Tintin
Hit Factor: Already a huge hit overseas, looks like a fun family adventure film.
Flop Factor: Family films have huge competition this weekend, especially with Hugo, Arthur Christmas and even Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked still chipping away.



We Bought A Zoo
Hit Factor: Director Cameron Crowe rarely makes a bad film.
Flop Factor: Reviews have been okay, not great... so it may get lost in the shuffle.



The Darkest Hour
Hit Factor: It probably isn't that expensive for an alien invasion type of movie.
Flop Factor: It looks terrible and there are better films to watch this Holiday Season.



War Horse
Hit Factor: Steven Spielberg back in the director's chair.
Flop Factor: Movie audiences laughed at the trailer.



My Predictions:

Movie Mission Impossible 4 Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Adventures of Tintin Sherlock Holmes 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks 3	Weekend Gross (millions) $40 $27 $25 $20 $14

Coolest Movie Trailers of 2012

It's that time again to check out the coolest movie trailers for the movies coming out in 2012. Here they are, so far. Now, in no way, does this mean the movie will be good.

The Avengers May 4
I was waiting for a good Avengers trailer to come along, and here it is... Perfect trailer for the fanboys and girls.


Snow White and the Huntsmen June 1
Cool take on the fable, much better than the other Snow White film.


Prometheus June 8
Director Ridley Scott's return to the Alien genre... not necessarily part of the Alien franchise, but in the same universe.



G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation so it's been moved to March 29 2013 (I'll leave this here though)
Yes, the first G.I. Joe movie wasn't that great, however, this trailer looks pretty damn cool.



The Dark Knight Rises July 20
I hope this movie isn't too over-hyped for it's own good.



The Expendables 2 August 17
The first Expendables wasn't that good, but this trailer has awesome name dropping action, that I can't helped but be impressed.



Looper September 8
Looks like a cool Sci-fi flick.


Cloud Atlas October 26
Looks like a tough sell for a target audience, but it's the Wachowski's and Tom Tykwer behind the camera.


Skyfall November 9
James Bond is back!

Django Unchained December 25
Another Tarantino over-the-top flick.

Sherlock Holmes 2 and Alvin Underwhelm at the Box Office

The newest installments of Sherlock Holmes (A Game of Shadows) and Alvin and the Chipmunks (Chipwrecked), underwhelmed the box office this weekend. Sherlock made about $40 million, which is good enough for first place, however, considering that the first Sherlock Holmes made over $62 million on opening weekend, studio executives were definitely expecting a bigger payout. The same goes for Chipwrecked, as it opened to $23.5 million, while the first two Chipmunks' opened in the neighborhood of $49 and $44 million respectively.

The one bright spot this weekend, is Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol which opened in third place for $13 million, while only being in 425 theaters. Hopefully this isn't mainly due to Christopher Nolan fan fare, as a Dark Knight Rises prologue is featured before Mission: Impossible Imax screenings. Time will tell next week as Ghost Protocol opens in wide release.

And generally speaking, Hugo and Arthur Christmas need to start seeing a boost in attendance over these couple of weeks or they may become huge flops, despite it's positive reviews and critical acclaim, even garnering major award nominations.

Weekend Estimates

Movie	Weekend Gross	Total Gross	Budget
1) Sherlock Holmes 2 2) Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 3) Mission Impossible 4 4) New Year's Eve 5) The Sitter 6) Breaking Dawn Part 1 7) Young Adult 8) Hugo 9) Arthur Christmas 10) The Muppets	$40 million $23.5 million $13 million $7.4 million $4.4 million $4.3 million $3.7 million $3.6 million $3.6 million $3.5 million	$40 million $23.5 million $13.6 million $24.8 million $17.7 million $266.4 million $4.1 million $39.1 million $38.5 million $70.9 million	$125 million $75 million $110 million $56 million $25 million $110 million $12 million $170 million $100 million $45 million

Sherlock Holmes 2 vs Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Sherlock Holmes 2 battles against the third Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, while Mission Impossible 4 and Young Adult sneak into limited release.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Hit Factor: The first one made over $524 million worldwide.
Flop Factor: The first one wasn't that great.



Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Hit Factor: The last two Alvin and the Chipmunks did surprisingly well.
Flop Factor: Maybe it's about that time this franchise starts to burn out.


My Predictions:

Movie Sherlock Holmes 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 Mission Impossible 4 Young Adult New Year's Eve	Weekend Gross (millions) $60 $35 $10 $7 $6

New Year's Eve Takes Top Spot in Box Office Lull

The star studded but critically panned movie, New Year's Eve, took in a measly $13 million for a first place finish. In comparison, Valentine's Day (which came out on Valentine's Day Weekend) brought in over $56 million.

Weekend Estimates

Movie	Weekend Gross	Total Gross	Budget
1) New Year's Eve 2) The Muppets 3) Breaking Dawn Part 1 4) The Muppets 5) Arthur Christmas 6) Hugo 7) The Descendants 8) Happy Feet Two 9) Jack and Jill 10) Immortals	$13 million $9.8 million $7.8 million $7 million $6.5 million $6.1 million $4.4 million $3.7 million $3.1 million $2.5 million	$13 million $9.8 million $259.4 million $65.7 million $33.4 million $33.4 million $23.6 million $56.8 million $68.5 million $79.9 million	$56 million $25 million $110 million $45 million $100 million $170 million n/a $130 million $79 million $75 million

New Year's Eve vs Breaking Dawn Part 1

A couple of poorly reviewed movies hit theaters this weekend, looking to take the top spot away from Twilight's Breaking Dawn Part 1. Basically looking like a calm weekend before the big movies hit in the next couple of weeks.

New Year's Eve
Hit Factor: Huge cast, Holiday themed. Something boyfriends or husbands will be dragged to see.
Flop Factor: A 6% on rottentomatoes, that's worse than bad.



The Sitter
Hit Factor: Trailer looks like it could be somewhat funny.
Flop Factor: More a rental instead, and the negative reviews will turn people away.


My Predictions:

Movie New Year's Eve Breaking Dawn Part 1 The Sitter The Muppets Hugo	Weekend Gross (millions) $24 $11 $10 $8 $7

Breaking Dawn Takes Third Weekend

In a rather quiet post Thanksgiving weekend, Twilight's Breaking Dawn Part 1 dropped another 60%, but still managed to claim the top spot for the third weekend in a row, with almost $17 million. The Muppets had to settle for second as it surprisingly tumbled over 60% for $11.2 million, despite its very positive reviews. Hugo, Arthur Christmas and Happy Feet Two round out the top five, all of which have a way to go before seeing a profit.

Weekend Estimates

Movie	Weekend Gross	Total Gross	Budget
1) Breaking Dawn Part 1 2) The Muppets 3) Hugo 4) Arthur Christmas 5) Happy Feet Two 6) Jack and Jill 7) The Descendants 8) Immortals 9) Tower Heist 10) Puss in Boots	$16.9 million $11.2 million $7.6 million $7.4 million $6 million $5.5 million $5.2 million $4.4 million $4.1 million $3.1 million	$247.3 million $56.1 million $25.2 million $25.3 million $51.8 million $64.3 million $18.1 million $75.6 million $70.8 million $139.5 million	$110 million $45 million $170 million $100 million $135 million $79 million n/a $75 million $75 million $130 million

Breaking Dawn vs The Muppets

So, no new movies open in wide release this post Thanksgiving weekend... this is a first, I think. So expect Twilight's Breaking Dawn Part 1 to battle the strong word of mouth of The Muppets, and possibly Hugo, and Arthur Christmas.

My Predictions:

Movie The Muppets Breaking Dawn Part 1 Hugo Happy Feet Two The Descendants	Weekend Gross (millions) $22 $20 $9 $9 $8