'Sherlock Holmes 2' tops US box office with $40m - top 10 in full

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has beaten both Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol to top the US box office.

The follow-up to the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, which sees the return of Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law as the titular detective and his sidekick Dr Watson, pulls in $40 million over the weekend from 3,703 locations. Meanwhile, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked takes second place, earning $23.5 million.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol claims third place, taking in $13 million from only 425 locations. The impressive earnings are likely due in part to the six-minute The Dark Knight Rises prologue playing in front of the fourth instalment of the Tom Cruise franchise.

New Year's Eve falls to fourth place, pulling in $7.4m, while The Sitter rounds out the top five.

The US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):

1. (-) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - $40,020,000
2. (-) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - $23,500,000
3. (-) Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - $13,000,000
4. (1) New Year's Eve - $7,420,000
5. (2) The Sitter - $4,400,000
6. (3) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 - $4,300,000
7. (-) Young Adult - $3,650,000
8. (6) Hugo - $3,625,000
9. (5) Arthur Christmas - $3,600,000
10. (4) The Muppets - $3,454,000