Tom Cruise is back this weekend in one of the most reliable franchises at the box office, Mission: Impossible, and the latest entry is a sure bet for the number one spot at the box office.
Cruise has potential to break the global opening weekend record for the franchise with Mission: Impossible – Fallout. There are a few factors at play that could make this happen, as this is likely the last big tentpole release of the summer.
Tom Cruise, even as his domestic box office presence see various ebbs and flows, has remained a huge international star and a majority of his latest films have been much larger overseas than here in the states. War of the Worlds stands as the star’s biggest global opener of all-time with $203.1 million, followed by last year’s The Mummy at $172.4 million. The latter is a big example of his global appeal because of that $172.4 million global opening, only $31.6 million of that came from the states. Fallout would only need to top the $131.5 million global opening of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol to claim the record for the franchise.
Also working in its favor is that the film has glowing reviews, with some even calling it the best film of the summer. The film is at a stellar 98% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing and while this franchise has a built-in audience that enjoys the films, good reviews will bring in other moviegoers who may not have been willing to give it a chance.
Fallout also has the weekend virtually to itself. Last week’s The Equalizer 2 won’t be much of a threat so, those seeking an action fix, are likely to look to this film for it. Moviegoers like reliability and over six films the Mission: Impossible franchise has proven to be just that.
I’m calling about $60 million for the opening weekend stateside with at least $75-80 million from overseas markets.
As for last weekend’s holdovers, even though The Equalizer 2 edged out Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again for the top spot, the latter has taken number one at the weekday box office since Sunday and it is the least affected by Mission: Impossible since it skews more female. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again should take second with about $20 million while The Equalizer 2 will take a harder hit to third with about $16 milion.
Check back on Monday for the full box office results.
