Tom Cruise’s fourth “Mission: Impossible” movie held on to the top of box-office charts over New Year’s weekend as Hollywood said goodbye to a sluggish* year at movie theaters.

    As 2011 ended, U.S. and Canadian revenue fell from last year and attendance slumped* to its lowest level since 1995.

    The year’s final weekend saw top movies add to ticket sales from the Christmas holiday one week earlier but no change in the top three chart positions. The “Sherlock Holmes” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks” franchise* films took the No. 2 and 3 positions behind Cruise’s film.

    From Friday till Monday, “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” hauled in an estimated US$38.3 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters, distributor Paramount Pictures said.

    The movie that features the 49-year-old Cruise as special agent Ethan Hunt dangling* off the world’s tallest building has grossed US$366.5 million worldwide. Of that, US$225.3 million has come from international markets, affirming Cruise’s place as a solid performer for global audiences and capping* a strong year for “MI4” distributor, Paramount Pictures.

    Propelled* by the third “Transformers” film, Paramount’s movies grossed nearly US$5.2 billion worldwide, the studio said. The total included nearly US$2 billion at U.S. theaters and a record US$3.2 billion internationally.

    No new movies were released nationwide over the weekend.

    In second place, detective sequel “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” grossed US$26.5 million over four days. Third place belonged to family film “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” which pulled in US$21.0 million.

    Rounding out the top five, Steven Spielberg’s family film “War Horse” landed in fourth with US$19.2 million, and thriller “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” pulled in US$19.0 million.

    Domestic revenue for 2011 fell 3.4 percent to US$10.2 billion, the second-straight yearly decline, according to estimates from Hollywood.com.

    Looking ahead, Hollywood is counting on a packed lineup of big-budget action movies and sequels to bring crowds back in 2012. The slate includes Batman sequel “The Dark Knight Rises,” superhero movie “The Avengers,” young-adult book adaptation “The Hunger Games” and the first of two “Hobbit” movies.(SD-Agencies)