Tom Cruise’s seventh “Mission: Impossible” spectacle hits theaters Wednesday, spending at least $400 million in production and marketing, marking a tipping point after a sluggish summer at the box office. It was supposed to be. A deadly stunt! A new love interest!that thrilling Theme song!
Ticket sales were also strong. But the spectacular (and perhaps unrealistic) result Hollywood was hoping for was didn’t come truefears spread that movie capital is overly reliant on aging series, and studios worry about how the actors’ strike will hurt the rest of the high-stakes production of the summer. is further increasing.
To make matters worse, the low-budget film The Sound of Freedom (Angel Studios) from outside the Hollywood system, which some critics have attacked as a far-right recruiting tool, has become a box office phenomenon.
Directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1” grossed $56.2 million last weekend in the U.S. and Canada, grossing nearly $80 million since its release Wednesday. became. According to Paramount Pictures, the 2-hour, 43-minute film has raised an additional $155 million overseas, bringing the global gross to about $235 million.
Analysts who track moviegoer interest and use complex formulas to predict ticket sales estimate that “Dead Reckoning Part 1” grossed about $250 million worldwide in its first five days of release. box office, of which the United States and Canada were expected to contribute at least $85 million. “The industry wanted something bigger here,” said the film consultant, Newsletter About the box office.
“This opening is about average for an action thriller at the moment in the series,” Gross said of the critically acclaimed, super-expensive “Dead Reckoning Part 1.” sensational review. “Of course, there is nothing mediocre about this movie.”
Cruz, who is believed to be the highest-grossing filmmaker after last year’s Top Gun 2, walked the red carpet at premieres in Rome, London, Abu Dhabi, Seoul and Sydney, and toured the world as usual. while promoting “Dead Reckoning Part 1”. and New York. Earlier this week, it made surprise appearances at movie theater previews in cities such as Toronto, Atlanta and Miami.
Known as the Powerful Actors Guild, Dead Reckoning Part 1’s ferocious publicity campaign will be Hollywood’s last until a consortium of studios reaches an agreement with SAG-AFTRA. On Friday, unions went on strike for the first time in 43 years, fed up with the exorbitant payouts to entertainment industry moguls and fearing they won’t receive their fair share of the spoils of a streaming-dominated future.
In the coming weeks, studios such as Universal, Sony and Disney will enlist the help of publicity stars such as Denzel Washington (“The Equalizer 3”), Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish (“Haunted Mansion”). I am preparing a movie that will be released soon. ) and Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx (“Strays”).
Over the weekend in the US and Canada, Dead Reckoning Part 1 was #1 on 4,327 screens, with premium-priced IMAX and other big venues accounting for 37% of ticket sales. Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Paramount, said, “Based on exit poll ratings and out-of-this-world nominations, it was the best-selling ‘Mission’ to date. It speaks eloquently,” he said.
Aronson also noted that in the first five days, Dead Reckoning Part 1 comfortably outperformed the series’ predecessor, Fallout (2018), in most countries overseas. made some observations.
Amazingly, considering its cost (around $15 million) and low-wattage marketing campaign, “Sound of Freedom” came in second with $27 million from 3,265 standard screens, a total of $86 million over two weeks. won a dollar Similarly, Sony Pictures’ low-budget horror film “Insidious: Red Door” came in third with $13 million, making a two-week total of $58 million.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate” (Disney-Lucasfilm) epitomizes the problems Hollywood faced with its franchise spectacle this summer, costing about $12 million, a three-week total of $145 million ( 302 million dollars), it is running alone in the top three and below. World wide).
That’s a lot of money, but not enough for a movie that costs at least $400 million to make and sell. Box office revenue is roughly 50/50 between studio and theater, so Dial of Destiny would have to more than double in order for Disney to make a profit.
Annual domestic ticket sales totaled about $5 billion, down about 20% from the same period in 2019, the year before the pandemic had a serious impact on the box office. And franchise sequels are also part of the reason for the decline. Some of these land tires are in tatters because they’ve been pumping air for profit for decades.
DC’s 3rd Ant-Man Movie, Fast & Furious Chapter 10, Indiana Jones 5th, 12th (Shazam! Wrath Of The Gods) and 13th (The Flash) Extended Universe certainly fell short of all expectations when compared to the cost.
“Generally, audiences get more and more interested in the same things, get satisfied and start getting excited about the next show,” box office consultant Gross wrote in Sunday’s newsletter.
