Tom Cruise still top gun at the box office

It’s official: Tom Cruise is back. At least when he’s climbing ridiculously high buildings and performing like one of “The Incredibles.”

“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” again claimed the top spot in this past weekend’s box office race, bringing in $38 million over the four-day weekend. As of now “Protocol” has made $141 million domestically, already $7 million more than the last “M:I” film, and it could be headed to $200 million, which would make it the biggest film in the series.

And that’s just in North America; around the world “Protocol” has earned another $200 million. Top Gun indeed.

The rest of the box office news was not-so-bad, not-so-good. The latest “Sherlock Holmes” and “Chipmunks” movies are making money, but still lagging behind their predecessors. “Holmes” is at $137 million and “Chipmunks” will break $100 million today, so no one’s complaining too loudly. But still…

Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” meanwhile, has made $45.2 million in nine days, much better than expected for such an old-fashioned yarn. With a big Monday, it actually beat the much-hyped and so-far under-performing “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” for third place on the week.

Overall earnings in 2011 are estimated to be down 3.4 percent while attendance is down a bit over 4 percent. Not-so-happy New Year’s news.

The top 10, Fri.- Sun, according to studio estimates at boxofficemojo.com.:

“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” $38.3 million, through Monday total $141.2 million

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” — $26.5 million, $136.5 million

“Chipwrecked” — $21 million, $97.3 million

“War Horse” — $19.2 million, $45.2 million

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” — $19 million, $60 million

“We Bought a Zoo” — $16.5 million, $44 million

“The Adventures of Tin Tin” — $15 million, $50.8 million

“New Year’s Eve” — $7.7 million, $47.3 million

“The Darkest Hour” — $5.2 million, $14.2 million

“The Descendants” — $4.2 million, $40.2 million