Bringing star/producer Tom Cruise's string of box office disappointments to an end (at least for now), Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation obliterated its competition, taking in $56 million during its first weekend.
The fifth installment in the action blockbuster franchise earned the second highest weekend ever in the franchise (behind Mission: Impossible II at $57.8 million) and, although the movie technically came out at the tail-end of July, it earned the sixth-highest August debut ever. It's also the third highest weekend box office total for a Cruise film, behind the aforementioned Mission: Impossible sequel and War of the Worlds at number one with $64.9 million. All three were distributed by Paramount.
This continues the successful early August timeline perpetuated last year with Guardians of the Galaxy and its monster success, especially as this sequel went above and beyond the studio's $40 million expectations. Although usually a month to test the waters of summer features with questionable demographics, the last month of summer is rapidly growing more audience-friendly and it's entirely possible a push for more big-and-bad affairs will come during this month.
One thing not to expect, however, are more Vacation movies during this time. Opening Wednesday and hoping to beat the competition in the earlier slot, the new reboot/sequel road trip initial prospects were as disappointing as the film itself and didn't get much better as the R-rated feature earned a mere $14.8 million during the past three days and $21.1 million since its official release. With a larger female-demographic (as most of the guys were likely watching Tom and his friends and their rousing action) at 53%, there was a mild audience for this one but they were not persuaded by bad reviews and the marketing only mildly capitalizing the original stars in favor of rehashing their old jokes.
Pundits pointed to this fall's Dumb and Dumber To's box office success streaming from the goodwill of watching original stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reunite and, though this movie did feature Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo in supporting roles, having newcomers Ed Helms and Christina Applegate be at the charge was not in moviegoers' best interest. Also, Dumb and Dumber To was the first sequel in the series (and most people did forget or simply tried to forget the prequel Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd), whereas this Vacation comes after three other theatrical sequels, one direct-to-DVD film and the 2010 short film Hotel Hell Vacation. It wasn't as if memories of the original road trip were too far behind.
The big question now remains how Rogue Nation stands against Friday's Fantastic Four reboot. Though reviews — including our own — are not predicted to come until Thursday, word-of-mouth isn't necessarily strong for the new superhero movie, and it remains to be seen if this can be the first Fantastic Four to live up to the first part of its title in any way, shape or form. It's possible both this and Mission: Impossible may not be in direct interference with one another, as Fox's new movie aims for the younger crowd while the Christopher McQuarrie movie brought in those in the 25-49 demographic. Next week will reveal the truth, though.
Image courtesy of Dara Kushner/INFphoto.com