Updated Sunday, 9:45 a.m. PT
Moviegoing tumbled -- as expected -- on Christmas Eve, but studios expect a busy Christmas Day. In fact, box-office watchers expect the weekend to end up some 3 percent over the same period last year.
Although "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" remained the box office leader Saturday, studio estimates show that the Paramount/Skydance movie's numbers fell about 36 percent, from $9.7 million on Friday to $6.2 million Saturday.
The numbers were similar for all of the major movies now in release:
"Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows" remained in second place. The Warner Bros. movie dropped 41 percent -- from $6.8 million to $4 million. Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" was down 48 percent, taking in $2.8 million on Saturday compared to $5.4 million on Friday.
Sony's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" fell from $4.6 million Friday to $2.5 million on Saturday -- about a 46 percent drop. Paramount's "The Adventures of Tintin" dropped about 31 percent, to $2.4 million.
And Fox's "We Bought a Zoo," which opened to a slow $3 million on Friday, fell about 37 percent to $1.9 million on Saturday.
Studios expect a rebound today.
Christmas Day is traditionally a good day at the box office. Last year, for instance, "Little Fockers" dropped from $7.1 million on Dec. 23 to just short of $5 million on Christmas Eve -- and then more than doubled, to $14.6 million on Christmas Day.
Despite this weekend's encouraging numbers, the year's overall box office will fall short of last year's.
Earlier:
Updated Saturday, 10 a.m. PT
"Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" stayed on top of the box office Friday, pulling in an estimated $9.7 million.
The Paramount/Skydance action movie has grossed about $42 million domestically since its Dec. 16 release and is on track to take in around $40 million from Friday to Monday.
"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," also in its second week of release, grossed $6.8 million on Friday. The Warner Bros. movie has now taken in $65.53 million in the U.S. It is looking at around $31 million between Friday and Christmas Day.
Fox's kiddie film "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" was in third place Friday, with $5.4 million. That movie, also in its second week, has a total of $42.3 million. Rival-studio projections show it taking $21.5 million over the four-day weekend.
New movies didn't play as well as their week-old counterparts on Friday.
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Sony's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel, took in a respectable $4.6 million on Friday. It has grossed nearly $13 million since its release this past Tuesday evening.
The movie is on track to gross in the neighborhood of $21 million through Monday.
Paramount's other film in release, Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin," grossed $3.5
