January means slim pickings for new movies at the box office, which made it easy for horror flick The Devil Inside to debut at No. 1 with $34.5 million. It came in ahead of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, which took in $20.5 million. Behind it was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with $14.1 million, followed by The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with $11.3 million. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked rounded out the top five and took in $9.5 million.
Photo courtesy of Paramount
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol reaped the benefits of wide release, and won the weekend box office with $29.5 million. Behind it was last week's champ, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which garnered $20.2 million in its second weekend out. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo debuted in third with $12.7 million, closely followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which took in $12.7 million. Completing the top five was The Adventures of Tintin, which opened to $9.7 million.
Matt Damon's We Bought a Zoo only earned $9.4 million in its first weekend, while War Horse made $7.5 million in its Christmas Day release.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Sequels dominated the box office this weekend, but it was Robert Downey Jr.'s reprisal of a famous detective that had the most success. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows came in first at the box office with $40 million, followed by animated sequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, with $23.5 million. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment in the franchise, opened in limited release and came in third with $13 million. New Year's Eve earned the No. 4 spot with $7.4 million, while The Sitter rounded out the top five with $4.4 million. Roman Polanski's Carnage also opened in limited release, earning a modest $85,700.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
This week's box office features a lot of mystery-solving men in new releases Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Mission Impossible — Ghost Protocol. Whether you decide to take a trip to the theater and see one of these flicks or not, we've got your sneak peek at the stills from all three of the films right now. Check them out to get a taste of these man-tastic movies.
Photo courtesy of Focus Features, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are back in the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, but is their showdown with iconic villain Professor Moriarty worth a trip to the theater? Watch the video review to see if you should watch, pass, or rent this film.
Giving the people more of what they want is usually the principle behind sequels, and it definitely holds true for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, but a good sequel takes what works and makes it better. Though this follow-up to the 2009 hit retains the chemistry of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, it disappoints by failing to add anything to the franchise. This time, Holmes is as intelligent, stubborn, and incorrigible as ever, but Watson is trying to evolve by getting married. Unfortunately, Watson's marital status is just about the only development for either of the main characters.
This time, we follow Holmes and Watson as they trace a series of crimes to Holmes's infamous nemesis Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), who has been leaving clues around Europe that he's laying the groundwork for war. Holmes is hot on his trail, while a batch of assassins are hot on Holmes and Watson's trail, leading to a game of cat and mouse that could be fun to watch, if the story was told in an engaging way. Unfortunately, plot points are withheld until the last moment, and the twists are so convoluted that you're lost along the way. It's a shame, because the film could have been a satisfying sequel, but instead it feels like a half-baked shadow of its predecessor. To find out what I mean, just keep reading.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law have a definite costar spark! Robert and Jude attended a press conference for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows yesterday where they teased each other about their onscreen chemistry, and Robert explained the reason why they're so good together. Find out in today's PopSugar Rush.
The Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows premiere in LA last night was full of famous faces. Rachel McAdams stunned in a Marchesa gown after traveling to the West Coast from London recently. She's been spending time in the UK with boyfriend Michael Sheen, and while he didn't join her on the red carpet for this event, Robert Downey Jr. and Guy Ritchie did have their leading ladies by their sides. Susan Downey showed off her growing baby bump amid news that she and RDJ are expecting a boy. Guy's girlfriend, Jacqui Ainsley, who gave birth to her first child with Guy in September, wore a gorgeous red dress to accompany her directing man. The movie hits theaters next week and will be up against Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol at the box office.
Rachel McAdams picked a dazzling silver Marchesa gown for the LA premiere of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows last night. Rachel's big smile lit up the red carpet, though she was sadly without her real-life leading man. Boyfriend Michael Sheen is currently starring in Hamlet on London's West End, so he couldn't make the trip back to the states. Rachel was recently spotted visiting him in the UK and she also cozied up to him backstage on his opening night earlier in November. Michael only has a tiny part in Breaking Dawn Part 1, which is currently dominating the box office, but Rachel's Sherlock Holmes sequel should provide some serious competition when it comes out Dec. 16.
