Mission: Impossible 7 Suffers Franchise-Worst Box Office Drop

The double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer has been nothing but good news for theaters this weekend, breaking box office records and bringing more people to theaters than anything we’ve seen in recent years. Unfortunately for the Mission: Impossible franchise, the latest blockbuster in the series got caught in Barbenheimer‘s wake. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One already got off to a slightly disappointing start at the domestic box office last weekend, and its second outing looks to be even more disastrous, delivering the worst week two drop for any Mission: Impossible movie.

Last weekend, Dead Reckoning debuted to $56.2 million at the domestic box office over its opening three days and $80 million over its official five-day opening. The blockbuster saw a steep 64% drop from its first weekend to its second, earning just $19.5 million in the last three days. 

The previous worst week two drop for the Mission: Impossible franchise belonged to 2000’s Mission: Impossible II, which fell 53% week-to-week.

Mission: Impossible Loses IMAX Theaters

The biggest problem for Dead Reckoning was the timing of its release, opening just over a week before the biggest one-two punch the box office has ever experienced. It also doesn’t help that Mission: Impossible lost the ability to play in IMAX theaters after just one week.

Tom Cruise’s award-winning juggernaut Top Gun: Maverick was able to sustain so much box office success because of its performance in premium theater formats like IMAX. Dead Reckoning didn’t get that chance because of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Nolan and Universal reached an agreement with IMAX that assured the massive screens would exclusively play Oppenheimer for three weeks.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two

The Mission: Impossible series will try to rebound from some of the lackluster performance in the near future, with the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two. The direct sequel to Dead Reckoning is scheduled to arrive in theaters next year, but production has been halted by the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes, so that 2024 release date is definitely in doubt.

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premiered in theaters on July 12th. It’s the beginning of the end for the action-packed franchise, as Cruise reteams with longtime collaborator and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie for more death-defying and breathtaking stunts. Hunt and allies Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) attempt to track down a new weapon with the power to tear the world apart. Actors Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales join the cast for the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to wrap up with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.