It's been a very strange summer for movies, with titles we all expected to be hits - The Flash and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, for example - proving to be expensive disasters for their respective studios.
Now, in the midst of a combined WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, Hollywood has reached a standstill. Last year, Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick was praised for "saving" the summer, but can the critically acclaimed Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One do the same?
Deadline reports that the movie set a 5-day domestic record for the franchise with a solid $80 million haul. That tops 2000's Mission: Impossible II (which made $78.8 million), though this latest instalment hasn't quite managed to top what Fallout did back in 2018 over a 3-day period.
Dead Reckoning Part One is coming in slightly below expectations in North America, though Cruise's movies have performed better overseas for several years now. In fact, as things stand, it's looking a lot like this action-packed latest instalment will have a global bow of $240 million.
That's a solid start, and Christopher McQuarrie's latest entry in the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise is expected to have legs in the weeks ahead.
Next weekend, Ethan Hunt will have to contend with Barbie and Oppenheimer (the former is expected to head straight to #1 with a massive debut), but overwhelmingly positive reviews and strong word of mouth are going to be majorly beneficial to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Why hasn't it come in higher during its opening weekend?
It's hard to say for sure, particularly given the excitement surrounding the movie prior to its release. The franchise does skew older, though, and if 2023 has proved anything, it's that there's no longer any such thing as a guaranteed box office hit...