Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout scaled $23 million at the Friday box office for a projected domestic debut of $59 million from 4,386 theaters, a franchise high and one of the best showings of Cruise’s career.
Friday’s haul includes a series-best preview gross of $6 million. Fallout‘s opening-day performance easily outpaced the $20.3 million earned by the last installment, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, on its first day. For the full weekend, Rogue Nation grossed $55.5 million, the second-biggest launch of the series behind Mission: Impossible II ($57.8 million), not adjusted for inflation. War of the Worlds ($64.9 million) remains Cruise’s top opening.
Overseas, Fallout opens in its first 36 foreign markets for a projected global bow of $130 million-plus. On Thursday and Friday, the film grossed a combined $38.3 million, and is pacing 10 percent ahead of Rogue Nation. And on Friday, Paramount announced that the movie has landed a release date in China, where it opens Aug. 31.
Glowing reviews are no doubt providing a boost for the sixth outing in the film franchise. Presently, the $178 million pic boasts a 97 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a franchise-high score, as well as the highest for any Cruise film (the actor’s previous best RT score was for Risky Business with 96 percent). Audiences bestowed Fallout with an A CinemaScore, likewise a best for the series.
Paramount and Skydance partnered on the film, which reunites Cruise with his Rogue Nation director, Christopher McQuarrie. Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan and Alec Baldwin all reprise their roles from previous M:I pics, while Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby join the series. The plot follows Hunt and his crew as they try to outsmart a CIA agent (Cavill) who is trying to kill them after an assignment gone wrong.
Cruise, 56, once again performed a number of high-risk stunts, one of which resulted in the actor breaking his ankle in London. Production was suspended for eight weeks, with insurance covering much of the tens of millions in added costs.
Warner Bros.’ family entry Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is also opening nationwide this weekend. The movie earned $4.2 million Friday for a debut in the $11 million range from 3,188 theaters, behind expectations.
The family film is headed for a fifth-place finish behind Mission: Impossible, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Equalizer 2. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 88 percent.
Teen Titans — facing competition from Hotel Transylvania 3 — is the first feature film adapted from the popular children’s animated series on Cartoon Network. The story follows the titular heroes — including Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), Robin (Scott Menville), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong) and Starfire (Hynden Walch) — as they try to convince a Hollywood director (Kristen Bell) to develop a movie based on their exploits. Complicating matters is the villain, Slade (Will Arnett).
Among holdovers, Universal’s Mamma Mia 2 looks to fall more than 55 percent in its second weekend to $15.3 million from 3,514 theaters for a domestic total of $70.7 million, ahead of the 10-day total for the first film ($62.6 million).
The Equalizer 2 — the first sequel of Denzel Washington’s career — is slipping more than 60 percent in its second outing as its target audience, males, turn their attention to Mission: Impossible. The Sony film is expected to earn $13.8 million from 3,388 locations for a total of $64 million through Sunday.
Fellow Sony film Hotel Transylvania 3 looks to earn $12.6 million from 4,005 cinemas in its third weekend for a domestic total of $119.3 million.
New offerings at the specialty box office include A24’s Hot Summer Nights, starring Timothee Chalamet and Maika Monroe. The coming-of-age drama, which has been awaiting release since premiering at SXSW more than a year ago, currently has a 42 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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July 27, 12:40 p.m. Updated with revised weekend estimates.
July 28, 12:40 p.m. Updated with Friday grosses and revised weekend estimates.
