Impossible’ Debuts With $80 Million Box Office In 5 Days

Jake Coyle Associated Press

NEW YORK — After a globe-trotting hype by star Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 opened with a series-high $80 million in five days, but only 5,620 at the box office. It fell short of industry expectations of $10,000. During the three-day weekend, according to the studio’s estimate.

The Paramount Pictures debut was boosted by international sales of $155 million from 70 markets. But while it was one of the best global openings of the year, with a $235 million worldwide release, Dead Reckoning is the high-speed version of last summer’s top film, Top Gun: Maverick. did not reach.

Dead Reckoning Part 1, the seventh installment in the 27-year-old series, was expected to surpass the series’ highest-grossing predecessor Fallout, which opened in Japan in 2018 with $61 million. On the other hand, the box office also fell. That’s nowhere near the $57.8 million for 2000’s Mission: Impossible II.

As a result, Disney’s opening weekend box office performance was sluggish at $82 million in five days and $60 million in three weekends when it opened in theaters in the United States and Canada. The dial is very close to the number. Paramount and Skydance had high hopes for Dead Reckoning, a spectacular action movie with a production budget of $290 million, excluding marketing costs.

These costs were inflated, in part, by the pandemic. Christopher McQuarrie’s Dead Reckoning was one of the first large-scale productions to shut down due to COVID-19. Preparations were underway to shoot in Italy in March 2020. Once the film got back on track, McQuarrie and Cruise helped usher in an industry-wide recovery to the set, despite well-known friction over protocol along the way.

Still, “Dead Reckoning” was hailed as the high point of the series. Critics (96% fresh for him on Rotten Tomatoes) and fans (Cinema Score ‘A’) alike came home in awe of the stunts and chases in the latest installment, Mission: Impossible. With Barbie and Oppenheimer’s long-awaited debut, Barbenheimer’s next round of competition looming, Mission: Impossible is set to do well in the coming weeks.

“This is a global franchise. It’s going to be gangbusters and we’re going to be playing it for a long time. Quality always wins in the end,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s head of distribution.

Aronson said “Dead Reckoning” met or exceeded the studio’s expectations.

“In international markets, similar markets, we’re 15% ahead of Fallout, and it’s overtaking China,” Aronson added. “In Japan, it outperformed Fallout by more than 3% in the first five days. Especially in this environment, surpassing its predecessor is phenomenal.”

Last year’s so-called movie theater savior, Cruise, continued his tireless journey to reinvigorate a sluggish summer at the box office. After a glitzy world premiere in Rome with a red carpet on the Spanish Steps, Cruise and McCurry stunned theaters in Atlanta, Miami, Toronto and Washington, D.C. days before the release.

Dead Reckoning hit theaters during Hollywood’s crucial midsummer season, and not just because of the SAG-AFTRA strike that began on Thursday. ‘Mission: Impossible’ came out a week ahead of him in the biggest box office showdown of the year.

“Dead Reckoning” and “Oppenheimer” have once vie for part of the same IMAX screen, but every movie publicly supports the idea that the rising tide lifts every blockbuster. Cruise and McQuarrie even purchased opening weekend tickets for both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in early July. “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan also responded with their respective attitudes of support.

But these three films, set to hit theaters in the coming weeks, will have a major impact on determining the fate of summer’s box office.

“The coming weeks are critical for the industry,” said Paul Dargarabedian, senior media analyst at data firm Comscore. “I think it’s going to be a fun reinvigoration at the box office, as some movies have been underperforming. Really, this week the summer movie season resumes, continuing from The Mission to Barbenheimer.” increase.”

No other new wide release ventured into Mission: Impossible this weekend. In second place was Angel Studios’ faith-based political thriller The Sound of Freedom, with its second installment up 37% to $27 million. Child trafficking drama starring Jim Cavizir.

“Insidious: Red Door,” which topped the list last week, slipped to third place after earning $13 million in its second week of release. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate” plunged sharply to $12 million in its third weekend, taking a total of $145.4 million at the domestic box office to date.

In a limited release, Searchlight Pictures’ mockumentary “Theater Camp” opened in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles for $270,000.

Estimated ticket sales Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Final national statistics will be released on Monday.

1. “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1,” $56.2 million.
2. “Sound of Freedom,” $27 million.
3. “Insidious: Red Door,” $13 million.
4. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate,” $12 million.
5. “Elemental,” $8.7 million;
6. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” $6.1 million.
7. “Transformers: Rise of the Beast,” $3.4 million.
8. “No Hard Feelings,” $3.3 million.
9. “Joy Ride,” $2.6 million.
10. “The Little Mermaid” $2.4 million.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP