Tom Cruise’s seventh “Mission: Impossible” spectacle, which hit theaters Wednesday and cost at least $400 million to produce and market, was set to be a turning point in a troubled summer box office. Death Defying Stunts! A new love interest! that thrilling theme song,
Ticket sales were solid. But the spectacular (and perhaps unrealistic) outcome Hollywood was hoping for did not materializeRaising concerns about movie capital’s over-reliance on older franchises — and sparking fears among studios about what damage the actors’ strike could do to the rest of the high-stakes summer slate.
As an added annoyance, “Sound of Freedom” (Angel Studios), a low-budget film from outside the Hollywood system, which some critics have attacked as a recruiting tool for the far right, was a phenomenon at the box office. It has become
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $56.2 million over the weekend in the United States and Canada, bringing its total to nearly $80 million since its Wednesday opening. According to Paramount Pictures, overseas, the two-hour-43-minute film earned an additional $155 million, while taking the global total to around $235 million.
Analysts who track movie audience interest and use complex formulas to forecast ticket sales predicted that “Dead Reckoning Part One” would gross approximately $250 million worldwide in its first five days, In which the United States and Canada will contribute at least $ 85 million. “The industry was looking for the big one here,” said film consultant David A. Gross said, who publishes a newsletter On box office numbers.
Mr. Gross said of the very expensive “Dead Reckoning Part One”, “It’s about average for an action thriller at this point in the series.” sensational reviews, “Of course, nothing in this movie is average.”
Mr. Cruise, who is touted as the biggest box office hottie since last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick”, kept up his usual globe-trotting gait as he walked red carpets for premieres in Rome, London, Abu Dhabi, Seoul Promoted “Dead Reckoning Part One”. , Sydney and New York. Early last week, he made surprise appearances at preview screenings at theaters in cities like Toronto, Atlanta, and Miami.
The massive promotion for “Dead Reckoning Part One” will be Hollywood’s last until a union of studios strikes a deal with SAG-AFTRA, as the powerful actors’ union is known. On Friday, the union went on strike for the first time in 43 years, saying it was fed up with exorbitant salaries for entertainment moguls and worried about not getting a fair share of the spoils of a streaming-dominated future.
In the coming weeks, movies from studios like Universal, Sony and Disney are set for release without the promotional star power of people like Denzel Washington (“The Equalizer 3”), Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish (“Haunted Mansion”). Have to do ) and Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx (“The Strays”).
For the weekend in the United States and Canada, “Dead Reckoning Part One” played on 4,327 screens and was No. 1, with premium-priced IMAX and other large-format venues contributing 37 percent of ticket sales. Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution, said, “Based on the exit poll ratings and recommendations, which were out of this world, it was the best-received ‘Mission’ ever,” which says a lot about the franchise’s viability. Is.”
Mr. Aronson made several other comments with The Glass Half-Full, including that, in the first five days, “Dead Reckoning Part One” did better than the franchise’s previous chapter, “Fallout” (2018), in most countries overseas. was performing
Surprisingly, given its cost (about $15 million) and low-wattage marketing campaign, “Sound of Freedom” finished second, earning $27 million from 3,265 standard screens, for a two-week total of $86 million. Sony Pictures’ similarly low-budget horror film “Insidious: The Red Door” finished third with $13 million for a two-week total of $58 million.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (Disney-Lucasfilm) epitomizes the problem Hollywood has faced with franchise spectacles this summer, trailing the top three with about $12 million, a three-week total of $145 million. dollars ($302 million). Whole world).
That’s a lot of money, but not enough for a film that cost at least $400 million to produce and market. Since box office revenue is split roughly 50-50 between studios and theaters, Disney would need to have more than double the number of performances for “Dial of Destiny” to make money.
Domestic ticket sales for the year totaled nearly $5 billion, down about 20 percent from the same period in 2019, the year before film production was severely disrupted by the pandemic. And franchise sequels are part of the reason for the decline. Decades of profit-driven pursuits have left some of these properties with worn tires.
The third “Ant-Man” film, the 10th “Fast and Furious” chapter, the fifth “Indiana Jones” installment, and the 12th (“Shazam! Fury of the Gods”) and 13th (“The Flash”) films in the DC Extended Universe all featured Disappointed, certainly compared to their cost.
Box office consultant Mr. Gross wrote in his Sunday newsletter, “Generally speaking, audiences are interested in more, more, more, until they are satisfied and excited about the next thing.”
