Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One had a mixed reception at the box office this weekend.
The seventh M:I movie generated an estimated $80 million since its official July 12 opening (there were showings as early as July 10), according to Exhibitor Relations Co. And its estimated total for the Friday-Sunday weekend was $56.2 million.
That put M:I 7 at No. 1 in the U.S. But the $80 million figure was lower than estimates going into the week. And the Friday-Sunday figure compared with $55.5 million for 2015’s Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and $61.2 million for 2018’s Mission: Impossible Fallout.
The comparisons are difficult because of the way the new entry was released. Still, suffice it to say the new movie’s box office wasn’t much different than its predecessors despite higher ticket prices. Also, Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning cost about $290 million to make and it may be difficult for the film to turn a profit during its theatrical release.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying cinema hasn’t been saved, certainly not yet.
Since at least the fall of 2021, fans of some movie series say their favorite films will “save cinema” after COVID-19. Still, cinema seems fairly precarious.
Recent expensive movies (The Flash, Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny) have come up short at the box office. Streaming, which was supposed to be a gold mine, hasn’t worked out that way for studios. And the Hollywood writer and actor unions are on strike, grinding productions to a halt.
To be sure, Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One has gotten many, many positive reviews. On the other hand, it will lose access to IMAX and other premium-priced movie screens as the Oppenheimer movie directed by Christopher Nolan comes out later this week.
Saving cinema will be a long, hard slog. No single film is going to do it.
Filed under: The Other Spies | Tagged: Exhibitor Relations Co., Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One, The Flash, Tom Cruise |
The Spy Command 
They were just beginning to start production of MI: Dead Reckoning – Part II until the actors’ strike, so somebody is going to make money on the back end somewhere down the road. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be planning a sequel already. Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
Glenn: They announced from the start there would be two movies. That’s why it says “Part One” in the title. That’s why it says “End Part One” at the end of this movie. Analysts were expecting a larger opening that what we got. We’ll see how it turns out. But it doesn’t look like this movie, by itself, is going to “save cinema.”