Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Set for Franchise-Best Opening at Global Box Office

The seventh installment in the beloved Mission: Impossible film franchise is preparing for the biggest opening of the entire series. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is arriving in theaters on Wednesday, in the middle of a summer that has already delivered a couple of major franchise disappointments. Dead Reckoning doesn't look to be one of them. Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie's latest collaboration looks to deliver a massive debut over its opening five-day frame.

According to Deadline, the latest Mission: Impossible movie is preparing for an opening of $250 million from Wednesday to Sunday. The film is tracking for a $90 million domestic bow, with another $160 million coming from international markets.

The previews for the opening actually begin on Tuesday afternoon, with some showings as early as 2 pm. That gives Dead Reckoning quite a lot of time to add to its opening total.

Dead Reckoning Part Two

The Dead Reckoning story is split into two parts, with the second film currently slated to hit theaters on June 28, 2024. Work on the sequel is set to resume as soon as the current press tour concludes.

"We finish this tour and, on our way back to the UK, we stop to scout along the way," director Christopher McQuarrie told Variety. "And we hit the ground running as soon as we get back, we're right back into it. I get two days vacation between here and Tokyo, and I'm back on the job."

Why Dead Reckoning Is Split in Two Parts

During a recent interview with Collider, McQuarrie explained why he opted to split the Dead Reckoning story between two different films.

"Well, we knew with Fallout. Fallout really grew because of all the character and emotion we were putting into the story, all the things that we had discovered in Rogue Nation that was so unexpected," McQuarrie shared. "I knew I wanted to expand the cast, and I knew I wanted to give each one of those characters more to do, so I knew the movie was going to be bigger and longer than Fallout."

"And at which point I said, 'Why are we fighting this? Why are we going to try to jam this into two hours? Let's just break it in half and make it two movies.' That really was the rationale behind it being a two-part movie. It just it wasn't just that the story was bigger but that we wanted more emotion in the movie," he added.

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premieres 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.