Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol shot its way to the top of the box office Wednesday, collecting a solid $8.6 million, according to early studio estimates.

By contrast, on the Wednesday before Christmas last year, Universal's Little Fockers was the No. 1 film with just $7.1 million.

The strong M:I:4 showing led a flurry of strong weekday performances by other new films Wednesday.

In its first full day of domestic wide release, Sony's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo grossed $3.5 million at 2,914 domestic locations.

Paramount's Steven Spielberg-directed Tintin, meanwhile, took $2.3 million during its U.S. debut Wednesday. It's playing at 3,087 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

In its sixth day of release, Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows grossed $4.3 million, continuing a strong rebound after a disappointing first weekend.

Paramount/Skydance's M:I:4 -- the fourth in the Mission: Impossible series -- now has grossed $25.7 million domestically and $85 million internationally.

The PG-13 film, directed by Brad Bird and starring Tom Cruise, opened at 425 large-format screens Friday. Its wide release began at 5 p.m. Tuesday, making Wednesday its first full day of wide release. It is now screening at 3,455 locations.

Warner Bros.' Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows, which opened to $39.6 million, has grossed a total of $54 million. The PG-13 movie directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, is showing signs of strength at its 3,703 locations. The movie took in $4.9 million on Monday, $5.2 million on Tuesday.

Sony's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher's R-rated adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novels, opened at 7 p.m. Tuesday. In its first five hours of release, the movie grossed $1.55 million. It more than doubled that in its first full day Wednesday, and has now taken in a total of $5.1 million at 2,914 locations.

Paramount's other new release, Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin, opened at 3,087 locations Wednesday and, because it opened in Quebec December 9, now has a North American total of $5.57 million. Internationally, the motion-capture animated movie has grossed nearly $240 million.

This is the weekend Hollywood has been looking forward to. After a wretched few weeks, studios are expecting audiences to return to movies in large numbers.

Still to be released: Fox's comedy We Bought a Zoo, on Friday, and DreamWorks' World War I drama War Horse, also from Spielberg, which hits theaters on Sunday. Also Sunday, Summit releases its R-rated sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour.

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