Tintin takes top box office spot

A SLEW of Boxing Day releases knocked Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol from its top spot at the Australian box office.

Tom Cruise's action flick slipped into third place after taking $2.17 million over the new year weekend. It was only a slight drop for a film which faced competition from nine new releases to hit cinemas since December 26.

The only two films to beat it were Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (see trailer, right), which topped the box office with $2.93 million and Happy Feet 2 in second with $2.21m, the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia says.

Other Boxing Day releases in the top 10 included Tower Heist in fourth place with $2.10 million, War Horse in fifth spot with $1.96 million, the Matt Damon family film We Bought a Zoo in sixth place with $1.54 million and Meryl Streep's take on Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady which notched up $1.49 million to take the seventh spot.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which opened on New Year's Day, raked in $1.23 million, while Puss in Boots and New Year's Eve rounded out the top 10.

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BOX OFFICE

1. The Adventures of Tintin

$2.931m

2. Happy Feet 2

$2.210m

3. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

2.170m

4. Tower Heist

$2.099m

5. War Horse

$1.957m

6. We Bought a Zoo

$1.537m

7. The Iron Lady

$1.486m

8. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

$1.230m

9. Puss in Boots

$1.119m

10. New Year's Eve

$943,303