With several big budget films such as "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol" being released, the past weekend's box office has seen a slight increase in total studio figures. However, the anticipated two films didn't really reach industry expectations. Topping the chart is Team Downey's new Sherlock Holmes, with 39.6 million US dollars during its first weekend. Still, the 145 million-dollar budget Warner Bros. sequel debuted 36 percent lower than the 62.3 million US dollars of the first Holmes two years ago. Despite the lukewarm debut, Sherlock Holmes 2 earned good reviews from critics and an encouraging A- CinemaScore. The kid flick "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" opened at No.2, taking in 23.2 million US dollars. It was also way below the debuts of its two predecessors. Chipmunks' soft opening was partially caused by the bad timing of the release, while most kids were still in school and parents were busy with holiday shopping. Even though some critics indicated that "Chipwrecked" offered almost nothing new to the audience, it is expected to roll in more kids to the cinemas, since there are no new kid flicks coming out for the rest of the year. The 4th installment of the "Mission: Impossible" series opened at No. 3, with 13 million US dollars. The figure may look weak, but it is actually quite impressive considering it is only released in 425 locations nationwide. Starting with limited release, Paramount hopes to spark a strong word-of-mouth that will fuel audiences' interest for the film, which is going to be released through a regular nationwide run today. In addition, overseas box office results were spectacular with the new Mission: Impossible earning an estimated $68.2M on its opening weekend, proving Cruise's worldwide tour did help bring in business. No. 4 went to last weekend's leader "New Year's Eve" at 7.3 million US dollars, while Jonah Hill's "The Sitter" plummeted to a poor 4.6 million US dollars last weekend at No. 5.