The Mark Wahlberg smuggling drama "Contraband" stole the top spot at box office away from the 3-D rerelease of "Beauty and the Beast" and the musical comedy "Joyful Noise" with a $28.8 million debut haul, while "Mission: Impossible _ Ghost Protocol" earned $14.2 million in its fifth weekend to take third place.
The exorcism fright film "The Devil Inside" beat industry expectations by a longshot with a $33.7 million debut, more than twice the amount the most optimistic forecasts predicted it would take in.
Tom Cruise is off to a good start for the new year with a second-straight No. 1 weekend at the box office.
Tom Cruise's new mission remains impossible to beat at the box office.
Hollywood has picked up a little Christmas bonus.
Tom Cruise's latest mission has won a holiday weekend that's shaping up with some silent nights at movie theaters as business continues to lag.
There was no mystery at the weekend box office. Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" debuted as the clear favorite with $39.6 million.
Sherlock Holmes is facing his worst enemy: declining crowds at theaters as this year's domestic movie attendance dips to the lowest in 16 years.
Hollywood's holidays are off to a dreadful start: Fewer people went to the movies the last two weekends than during the box-office hush that followed the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago.
Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller's "Little Fockers" remained the top draw at the weekend box office with $26.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
