This year, the spy and action film genre – or the suity shooty, if you will – hit the jackpot with John Wick: Chapter 4 and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Both films currently occupy the eighth and ninth positions, respectively, in the worldwide box office charts, but the latter could have certainly been much higher on the list.
Mission: Impossible 7 made its debut in theaters on July 12, grossing $56.2 million domestically in its three-day weekend and $80 million over five days in its opening weekend. Despite the critical rave it received, the film’s second weekend showed a significant decline, earning just $19.5 million domestically, an incredible 64% drop from its first weekend.
This drop sets a new record low for the franchise, surpassing Mission: Impossible 2’s 53.3% decline in 2000. Here is a complete list of all Mission: Impossible films and their box-office drops in the second weekend:
- Mission: Impossible (1996) – [-52.4%]
- Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) – [-53.3%]
- Mission: Impossible 3 (2006) – [-47.6%]
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) – [+131.2%] (This was a result of a limited theatrical showing in its opening weekend.)
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) – [-48.7%]
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) – [-42.3%]
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023) – [-64%]
Looking at the list above, the most recent installments in the franchise had an impressive second weekend at the box office, with a drop no greater than 49%. To put this into perspective, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had a 49% drop, making it one of the best second-weekend holds in the MCU’s history.
If Mission: Impossible 7 had maintained the same pattern as the last two films in the franchise, it should have earned around $28 million in its second weekend domestically. While not faring as poorly as some of its contemporaries, this again demonstrates the Hollywood blockbuster struggles of the year.
Mission: Impossible 7’s huge drop in its second weekend can be attributed to two main factors. First, the much-hyped Oppenheimer and Barbie films drew massive crowds to theaters, leaving Mission: Impossible 7 on the backburner. The internet even coined the term “Barbenheimer” to describe this frenzy.
Second, a deal between Christopher Nolan and Universal Pictures gave Oppenheimer exclusive access to all IMAX screens in North America for three weeks. As a result, Mission: Impossible 7 was relegated to smaller screens, which affected its box office earnings significantly.
Star Tom Cruise, playing the lead character Ethan Hunt throughout the franchise, has expressed frustration over this, considering his last film, Top Gun: Maverick, earned a massive $110 million from IMAX theaters alone.
Will audiences return to theaters for Mission: Impossible 7 after the Barbenheimer hype wanes? Only time will tell, but if this weekend is any indication, Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures should brace themselves for tough times ahead.
