It’s been a summer movie season filled with box-office disappointments, but Tom Cruise might come and save the day, again.
Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” is currently tracking for a franchise-best opening of $90 million domestically, according to THR.
If reviews, under embargo until July 5th, prove to be as glowing as early reactions have been, then you can expect that number to possibly go up to the $100 million mark.
Movie stars might be in short supply in the superhero era, but Cruise, at the peak of his popularity, is one of the very few left. He’s coming off last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick”, which grossed nearly $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, despite restrictions from the pandemic.
Moviegoers are coming off the ‘Maverick’ high and want more Cruise, which, pundits are claiming, is being seen by audiences as a sort-of spiritual sequel to ‘Maverick.’ Sure, whatever brings butts to the seats.
Remember when Steven Spielberg told Cruise, “you saved Hollywood’s ass, and you might have saved theatrical distribution.” He wasn’t kidding.
This has, so far, been a summer where the likes of “Fast X,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Transformers 4,” “Elemental” and “The Flash” all underperformed at the box-office. It’s hard not to root for Tom Cruise to, yet again, pick up the industry on his shoulders and show everybody, once again, how it’s done.
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” is set to open on July 12th. Its budget, due to numerous, and endless, pandemic delays is an astounding $290 million.
“Hope,” Na’s first film in ten years — his last one being the exemplary “The Wailing” —is a gloriously messy, blood-soaked sci-fi epic that may become a cult classic despite—or because of—its polarizing nature.