It’s kind of weird to say Tom Cruise is having a revival. After all, Cruise has worked steadily for decades and a lot of his movies (but not all) have been successful. But after the astounding success of Top Gun: Maverick last year, he has another MAJOR hit with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which boasts the best opening for the entire M:I franchise with $80 million over five days, as it opened early on Wednesday. Worldwide, its opening is a whopping $235M.
It looks like Ethan Hunt is saving the summer after the dismal performances of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Flash. For the record, everyone loves it. Dead Reckoning has a 96% Rotten Tomatoes critical average, a 94% audience rating, an A CinemaScore from exiting audiences, and 5 out of 5 stars via PostTrak.
Behind that, more than hanging in is the faith-based drama The Sound of Freedom, which did BETTER in its second week, rising 37% for a $27M second weekend to land at #2. That almost never happens. It looks like the push last weekend, with right-wing groups buying up tickets and giving them away, worked and buzz is building for this picture.
Horror movies are mostly front-loaded and that seems to be the case with Insidious: The Red Door which took a 60% tumble in its second weekend to place at #3 with $13M.
Globally, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Elemental have both crossed the $300M mark. However, in the case of Indy, that’s a disappointment, whereas with Elemental that’s pretty good, considering its soft opening. The latest Pixar movie is holding better than expected in various territories.
In the U.S., The Dial of Destiny earned an additional $12M and Elemental made $8.7M.
Here are the numbers:
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- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount) – 3-day $56.2M /5-day $80M/ Wk 1
- Sound of Freedom (Angel Pictures) – 3-day $27M /Total $85.4M/ Wk 2
- Insidious: The Red Door (Sony/Blumhouse) – 3-day $13M/ Total $58M/ Wk 2
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Disney) – 3-day $12M/ Total $145.3M/ Wk 3
- Elemental (Disney) – 3-day $8.7M/ Total $125.2M/ Wk 5
Tom Cruise voiced his displeasure about M:I – Dead Reckoning losings its larger format screens after just one week. (It may get them back later.) But next weekend belongs to two highly-anticipated films, Greta Gerwig’s toy adaptation, Barbie, and Christopher Nolan’s latest, the historical drama Oppenheimer.
These are two very different pictures, but cinephiles are anxious to see both, with hundreds buying opening weekend tickets to each to do a double feature. Even Tom Cruise has gone on the record to declare that he plans to see both movies this weekend.
However, at this point, it looks as though Barbie will dominate. Oppenheimer, with its serious subject matter and three-hour runtime, will be more limited in its ability to draw viewers. But don’t count out Dead Reckoning. With its excellent buzz, it will continue to put butts in seats.
Did you check out Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One this weekend? Will you be heading out to see Barbie or Oppenheimer next weekend? Or both?
