After hitting theaters last week,Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoninghas found itself on an impressive Tom Cruise box office chart following the crossing of a new milestone. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the latest and seemingly last installment in theMission: Impossiblefranchise features Cruise back in action as Ethan Hunt, facing off against Gabriel (Esai Morales) andThe Entityone last time. The film, which also stars Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, and Henry Czerny, among others, opened to $64 million at the box office last weekend, setting a new franchise record.
Now, according toBox Office Mojo,The Final Reckoninghas crossed $220 million worldwide, comprising $86.2 million domestically and $136.1 million from overseas. Using additional box office data fromThe Numbers,the latestMission: Impossiblemovie now stands among the top 25 highest-grossing movies of Cruise’s career worldwide. The film currently occupies 23rd place, coming just behind titles likeInterview With the Vampire($223.6M),A Few Good Men($236.5), andKnight and Day($258.7).The Final Reckoningjust recently surpassed bothJack Reacher($217.4M) andCollateral($217.6M).
What This Means For The Final Reckoning
Will Mission: Impossible 8 Be A Success?
The Final Reckoningmay now be among Cruise’s top 25 highest-grossing movies, but, as seen in the chart below, the film still has a long way to go to reach the top five. Given the previous installment, 2023’sacclaimedMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, grossed $565.7 million, though, there’s certainly reason to believe the new film will achieve this.Mission: Impossible 8, after all, got off to a stronger start at the box office, and there’s been a massive marketing push behind the film.
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War of the Worlds
$606.8M
Even ifThe Final Reckoningmakes it into Cruise’s top five, however, it still may not end its run as a success. Due in part to delays caused by COVID-19 and the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023,the film carries a massive reported budget of $400 million. Using the traditional Hollywood rule of thumb, this would putThe Final Reckoning’s break-even point at $1 billion, a figure no previous franchise entry has achieved. It seems very unlikelyThe Final Reckoningwill hit this figure, especially with reviews being a little more mixed from critics this time around.
Dead Reckoning, despite being the sixth highest-grossing movie of Cruise’s career, was considered a disappointment due to its estimated budget of $291 million.
The Cruise Franchise Will Go Out On A Mixed Note
Image via Paramount Pictures
Even thoughThe Final Reckoningreviewsmay be less glowing than usual for aMission: Impossiblefilm, the audience response is still seemingly quite positive. Whether this audience response is enough to generate strong word-of-mouth, however, remains to be seen.The marketing has very much been leaning into this installment being the last one, and this could be responsible for the stronger-than-usual opening weekend audience turnout, but sustained high interest over the coming weeks and months will be crucial for this film.
IfThe Final Reckoninghad been made at a normal budget level, it may well have achieved box office success by the end of its run, but reaching profitability with a $400 million price tag is an extremely tall order, and not one I’m confident the film can pull off. Still, the film’s performance thus far speaks to Cruise’s power as a movie star, and it will be interesting to see just how far up the actor’s top 25 listMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoningwill go.
