By beating studio estimates, the movie is doing what many winners are doing this year. The film was expected to be in the range of $40-48 million, but came in around $56 million. That is solid and wonderful news for Paramount. Cruise not only took the film to the top, he solidified the series. Plus, men turned out and saw it and when that happens, it seems, films over-achieve. Cruise has had a bumpy ride of late, but he is now back in control.
Meanwhile, “Vacation” started early and stalled. The take for the five-day was not even near the three-day figure of “Mission. That says it all for the comedy remake. It did not connect with audiences, but it especially fell flat with those who saw the original. There was simply no need to go on “Vacation” again. It did come in second, however, with its $14.8 million weekend.
“Mission” was overseas as with a take of $65 million.
Weekend, domestic
1. “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” – $56 million
2. “Vacation” – three-day, $14.8 million; five-day, $21.2 million
3. “Ant-Man” – $12.6 million
4. “Minions” – $12.2 million
5. “Pixels” – $10.4 million
The side story for the weekend was the second weekend outings for a couple films and how much they dropped. A normal drop is around 49-52 percent. “Paper Towns” fell 63.6 percent while “Pixels” dropped 56.7 percent.
Also, “The End of the Tour” per screen average was noteworthy. It took in an impressive $31,500 per screen in four theaters ($126,000 total). “Listen to Me Marlon” took in $14,500 per screen in two theaters ($37,000 total).
But, the weekend belonged to “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” as it did cruise to an easy win. The distance between first and second tells the tale as August is usually slow, but, at least for now, for the winner, it was not.
