Mission: Impossible With Tom Cruise Still Box-Office Leader

David James/Paramount Pictures

Jeremy Renner grips a dangling Tom Cruise in the hit Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol.

LOS ANGELES Tom Cruise appears to have left behind his weird period, at least at the North American box office.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, which features the 49-year-old Mr. Cruise scaling buildings and sprinting through sandstorms, repeated as the No. 1 attraction at movie theaters over the holiday weekend, taking in about $31.3 million for a three-week total of $134 million. Ghost Protocol, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles), has sold over $200 million in scattered release overseas.

The upshot is that Mr. Cruise, with lots of help from Hollywood public-relations wizards, has restored sizzle to a career that was cold just a few years ago because of reactions to his strange public behavior (the Oprah couch-jumping moment), controversial views on the use of antidepressants and his belief in Scientology.

A blockbuster is a big moment for Mr. Cruise, whose most recent event films (Knight and Day, Valkyrie) have disappointed an industry used to stratospheric results from him. Notably, Paramounts corporate owner, Viacom, blamed Mr. Cruises behavior and subsequent mockery by the news media for a weak opening weekend for Mission: Impos! sible II I in 2006.

Movie-ticket sales across the board for this past weekend totaled $164 million, a 3 percent increase over the same period last year, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office data. Contributing were better-than-expected results for two films that struggled in recent weekends: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Warner Brothers) was second, taking in an estimated $22.1 million for a new total of $132.1 million, while Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (20th Century Fox) was third, selling about $18.3 million in tickets for a new total of $94.6 million.

But it was another aging star Steven Spielberg, 65 who caught Hollywoods attention over the weekend. Proving naysayers wrong, Mr. Spielbergs War Horse caught wind and finished a surprisingly strong fourth. War Horse, which drew prerelease scorn from many in Hollywood for its overt embrace of old-fashioned cinematic storytelling, took in almost $17 million for a total of roughly $43 million since opening on Dec. 25.

A Walt Disney release of a DreamWorks Studios production, War Horse probably benefited from solid word of mouth; moviegoers gave the film an A grade in exit polls.

Exactly what type of moviegoer supported the film was unknown. Dave Hollis, Disneys executive vice president for distribution, said standard demographic information was unavailable because of the holiday. Its playing well in both upscale and heartland theaters, Mr. Hollis said, adding that he expected War Horse to have a steady run in theaters over the coming weeks as attention focused on contenders for the Oscars.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Sony Pi! ctures E ntertainment) continued to underperform expectations in fifth place, selling about $16.3 million in tickets for a two-week total of $57.1 million.