by — 1:14 PM

Mission: Impossible 4 hits Box office this weekend

Hollywood is really banking on Christmas being a big weekend.


Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol with Tom Cruise already had a big Wednesday, grossing $8.5 million on the first day of the long Christmas weekend at the box office. Cruise’s fourth M:I film is expected to top the box office, giving Hollywood a much-needed Christmas present after three straight weeks of weak numbers. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is also expected to do well.


Ghost Protocol, The Incredibles director Brad Bird’s first live-action film, is expected to make a total of $45 million between Wednesday and Sunday, reports The Los Angeles Times. The film has actually been in theaters since last Thursday, debuting in over IMAX 400 theaters, so this is its first weekend in wide release. It has already made $25.7 million. Entertainment Weekly predicts that the film will make $27 million between Friday and Sunday.


David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with Daniel Craig also had a strong Wednesday, which is expected to propel it to second place over the Christmas break. The R-rated film could make at least $30 million through the weekend, with $17 million of that coming over the weekend itself, predicts EW.


Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows should be able to make it to third place after a weak opening last weekend. The film could make at least $27 million, putting it just behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It could make around $15 million during the three-day weekend, but it is still far behind the first film in Guy Ritchie’s Holmesfranchise.


Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked, which made $3.9 million Thursday, according to Deadline, could wind up with $24 million by the end of the weekend. Between Friday and Sunday, it is expected to make around $12 million according to EW.

Bringing up the rear at the top of the box office will be Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, which made $2.3 million on Wednesday and $2.4 million on Thursday. It could end up making around $16 million by the end of the weekend and just under $10 million between Friday and Sunday. That probably won’t matter too much to Spielberg, since the film has already made well over $200 million internationally.


by — 12:55 PM

Laptops for every budget


(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Looking over all the portable computing trends of the past few years--thinner systems, solid-state-drive hard drives, 16:9 displays--one overall theme is that high-quality laptops are less expensive than ever.
Some years ago, $1,000 was considered reasonable for a budget-minded laptop, while today, that same Grover Cleveland means you're shopping for a high-end laptop (and in that case, usually a MacBook).
That means that in the run-up to the holiday shopping season--see more about that in our annual Holiday Gift Guide)--there are plenty of excellent laptop options for every budget, from $400 ultraportables to $1,700 multimedia powerhouses. We've collected a handful of suggestions in the budget, mainstream, and high-end categories, concentrating on recent laptops that should be easy to find online or on store shelves.
All of the laptops highlighted below are solid choices, and in particular Dan likes the HP Pavilion dm1z, a budget ultraportable that at $450 is almost a stocking stuffer. Scott is partial to the budget end of the spectrum as well, calling the Dell Inspiron 14z one of the best current all-around laptop values, with good battery life and a thin (for a midsize system) design.
Dell Inspiron 14z
HP Pavilion dv7
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET )
Sony Vaio SE

(VIA:CNET)