Perhaps it’s time to start lowering expectations.
Certainly, it surprised no one to find Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One at the top of the weekend’s box office. What did raise a few eyebrows was the movie’s mildly disappointing take.
Certainly, the $56.2 million Dead Reckoning earned during the traditional three-day weekend is a nice bundle of cash. Add in the film’s receipts over its five-day run, and Tom Cruise’s new action flick has already earned $80 million—a record for the franchise. (It made nearly twice that overseas, by the way, pushing its overall global haul to $235 million.)
But Dead Reckoning’s $80 million five-day domestic tally is $10 million less than most prognosticators had expected—and this despite glowing reviews (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) and strong word of mouth.
Dead Reckoning is just the latest hotly anticipated blockbuster to disappoint. From Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to Elemental to The Flash, plenty of high-profile flicks have struggled. And while several came with built-in explanations/excuses (the controversy surrounding The Flash’s Ezra Miller, Elemental’s adult-skewing romance, Dial of Destiny’s so-so quality), Dead Reckoning seems to illustrate something we’d long suspected. Since COVID, the moviegoing public has changed. Sure-fire hits just aren’t so sure-fire anymore.
While would-be blockbusters are showing a bit of weakness, other types of movies are flexing their muscles. Case in point: Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom, which actually moved up a spot (from No. 3 to No. 2) in its second weekend of action. Despite—or maybe because of—some controversy surrounding the flick, Sound of Freedom earned another $27 million, bringing its total tally to $85.5 million.
Yep, if four-quadrant action flicks are struggling, some Christian films seem to be doing just fine.
Inexpensive horror movies seem to be doing OK, too. Insidious: The Red Doorlanded in third place, pocketing $13 million. Its $58.1 million overall domestic total represents a nice little profit for its makers.
Meanwhile, two of those “disappointing” box-office titans continue to loiter in the top five. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny finished fourth with $12 million (bringing its total domestic tally to $145.4 million), while Pixar’s Elemental earned $8.7 million for fifth.
And far, far down the list, you’ll see a nice little film called The Miracle Club. Starring Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith, this quiet meditation on fractured relationships and forgiveness earned about $680,000 to finish 14th.
One Response
-I hardly feel like such an opening week should be considered a disappointment (especially since the movie didn’t open on a Friday), especially – as you said – for an excellent movie with strong word of mouth that I think will lead to a stellar finish for Part Two. It kind of reminds me of how Age of Ultron’s opening was considered a ‘disappointment’ despite being a large amount of money in raw dollars.