Any doubt that Tom Cruise was back and bigger than ever was dashed this weekend as the actor once again took on the role of Ethan Hunt for Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions‘ spy action-thriller Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, co-starring Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson and Alec Baldwin. It opened in 3,956 theaters to gross $20.3 million on Friday (including $4 million from Thursday previews), and its solid reviews and word-of-mouth helped the movie sustain business over the weekend for an estimated $56 million opening weekend.
That’s just below the $57.8 million of Mission: Impossible II although that’s not taking into account 15 years of movie ticket inflation. It’s also hard to compare Rogue Nation with its predecessor, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which opened with a limited IMAX release before expanding in the slower weekend before Christmas. It still went on to gross $209 million domestically and we’ll have to see if Rogue Nation can sustain business into the slower month of August to reach that mark.
Overseas, Rogue Nation added another $65 million in 40 territories, exceeding Ghost Protocol in most of those areas by 49% with the UK doing the biggest business with $8.7 million followed by Mexico with $5.1 million and Taiwan with $5 million (both opening significantly higher than the previous movie). The movie’s “A-” CinemaScore is a good sign that the movie will continue to do well over the coming weeks as it continues to expand overseas.
The movie received a big push for its IMAX showings with Paramount previewing the first five minutes of the movie in IMAX in front of Terminator Genisys, which helped it gross $8.4 million in 369 domestic IMAX screens and another $4.1 million on 135 IMAX screens overseas.
Opening earlier on Wednesday, New Line and Warner Bros. Pictures’ remake/sequel Vacation, starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann and Chris Hemsworth, took in $3.8 million its opening day and another $2.5 million on Thursday. By Friday, it was in 3,411 theaters where it earned $4.5 million on Friday and $14.9 million over the three-day weekend, or $4,354 per theater. Its $21.2 million five-day opening is lower than expected.
Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man (Disney), starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll, dropped 49% in its third weekend to third place with $12.6 million and $132.1 million domestically. It will soon cross the $300 million mark globally with another $20 million grossed this weekend internationally in 50 markets, or 61% of its international release.
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s hit animated spin-off Minions dropped one spot to fourth with $12.2 million (down 47%) with $287 million grossed domestically in its first month.
Adam Sandler’s video game action-comedy Pixels, co-starring Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Monaghan and directed by Chris Columbus, dropped three places to fifth with $10.4 million (down a whopping 57%) and $45.6 million total, which means it will be relying on international box office to make back its $88 million production budget. So far it’s earned slightly more with $56.5 million overseas.
Sixth place went to the Amy Schumer-Judd Apatow rom-com Trainwreck (Universal) with $9.7 million and $79.7 million after three weekends with a good chance of hitting $100 million in the next couple of weeks.
Antoine (The Equalizer) Fuqua’s boxing drama Southpaw (The Weinstein Co.), starring Jake Gyllenhaal, took seventh place with $7.5 million (down 55%) and $31.6 million total, followed by 20th Century Fox’s Paper Towns, starring Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne, with $4.6 million (down 64%) and $23.8 million total. (By comparison, the latter cost $12 million to produce compared to the former’s $30 million.)
Pixar’s Inside Out took ninth place with $4.5 million followed in tenth place by Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World with $3.8 million, both ending their run in the Top 10 as two of the three biggest movies of the summer.
The Top 10 grossed an estimated $136.2 million, which was down nearly $30 million from the same weekend last year when Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy won the weekend with $94.3 million.
James Ponsoldt’s The End of the Tour (A24), starring Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg, opened in four theaters in New York and L.A. with $126,000, or $31,500 per theater.
RADiUS-TWC’s A LEGO Brickumentary opened in 93 theaters where it only grossed $42,000, or $452 per theater.
