Blockbuster ticket sales seemed to be the impossible mission this weekend but neither Ethan Hunt nor Tom cruise were up for the challenge. If a movie like Scary Movie 4 can siphon $40 million from American's wallets, you'd think a summer action flick with an cast full of stars and the backing of most critics could do at least $60 million. Not so.
Mission: Impossible III pulled in only $48 million, a lousy turn out for such a huge film. With a $150 million budget the film will likely whimper its way to being just barely profitable. There's plenty of places to shuck blame for this dismal turn out. It could be the nation wasn't really up for a third Mission: Impossible film. The first two certainly didn't pave a very exciting road. Perhaps Americans are just plain fed up with Tom Cruise's real-life antics and feel sorry for his newlywed wife. Whatever the reasons, they resulted in a cold slap in the face for what should have been the first big hit of the year.
The studios have to be absolutely crushed by this. They'd never say it (gotta save face), but you know they were expecting a much bigger turn out. Very few movies get a 4000+ screen release which means M:I III was anticipated to be in huge demand. Instead, it had the poorest opening weekend of any of the three franchise films. Mission: Impossible II is on top with $57 million and the first film made $45 million (which, by 1996 ticket prices makes it a far greater success than this third entry).
Does this spell doom for the Mission:Impossible franchise? We'll have to wait and see how well it does overseas. Perhaps there are sleeper groups of Scientologists around the world
just waiting to throw cash at their faith's latest, loudest advocate. If not, I'd be willing to bet the films go into dormancy for a decade or two until another hero can emerge from the IMF ranks to breathe new life into the movies. With any luck we may get something better than Ethan Hunt's solo heroics.
All other new releases this weekend cowered in Mission's shadow. Indie thriller An American Haunting did surprisingly well, taking third place but only earning $6.3 million. Jimmy Buffet's pet project Hoot took a painful plowing, only making $3.4 million and just barely securing a spot in the top ten.
Ice Age 2 just can't seem to lose. Now in it's sixth week of release, it made a jump up a notch to sixth place this week. The question now is how long it will survive with the summer hits on their way out.
Action drama Poseidon, a remake of 1972's The Poseidon Adventure, is the big release next weekend and likely the only one that will push M:I III out of the way. Lindsay Lohan goes on a kissing spree with Just My Luck and soccer fans finally get another movie they can be proud of in Goal! The Adventure Begins. It only opens on 1000 screens, but having already seen it I can tell you it's a shame if it doesn't do well anyway.
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