Box Office Report: Tom Cruise Dominates The Competition

Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.

Weekend Estimates Update - July 14th, 2023 to July 16th, 2023:

Paramount's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One debuted in first place over the three-day weekend with an estimated $56.20 million. That brings the five-day start for the seventh installment of the Tom Cruise-led franchise to an estimated $80.00 million (including Tuesday preview shows and prior Early Access shows). While Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One didn't quite reach its lofty expectations, which had tended to range from $85 million to $100 million for the five-day frame, the film was still able to register the largest unadjusted five-day start ever for the Mission: Impossible franchise (with the previous five-day high-mark belonging to Mission: Impossible 2 with $78.20 million – way back in May of 2020 when ticket prices were obviously significantly less expensive than they are now). In comparison to more recent Mission: Impossible films, through five days Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is running 3.2 percent ahead of the $77.53 million five-day start of 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout and 15.0 percent ahead of the $69.54 million five-day start of 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (both Fallout and Rogue Nation opened on a Friday). Opening weekend expectations for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One had been inflated due in part to the break-out performance of last year's Tom Cruise-led Top Gun: Maverick and in part to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opening the week before the highly anticipated combination of Warner Bros.'s Barbie and Universal's Oppenheimer (which should have helped boost opening weekend demand for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One this weekend).

With the exception of Thursday's performance, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has experienced strong initial daily percentage holds thus far. That is a good early sign when it comes to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning potentially holding up well throughout the rest of the summer (after next weekend's likely sizable second weekend decline). Critical reviews for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One have been exceptional and the film also looks to be going over extremely well with audiences after receiving a strong A rating on CinemaScore. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has received an added boost from grossing an estimated $11.0 million from domestic IMAX screens thus far (that represents 13.8 percent of the film's overall domestic gross through Sunday). Unfortunately for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the film will be losing its IMAX screens to Oppenheimer next weekend.

Internationally, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One debuted with an estimated $155.0 million from 70 international markets. That places the film's global launch through Sunday at an estimated $235.0 million. While Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is expensive and reportedly carried a price-tag similar to the recent Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the expectation was that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One would be a far stronger performer internationally and that is already playing out. Estimated debuts for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One by international market included $25.4 million in China, $14.3 million in South Korea, $13.8 million in the United Kingdom, $9.0 million in India, $8.3 million in Australia, $7.7 million in France, $7.0 million in Taiwan, $5.2 million in Indonesia, $4.8 million in the UAE, $4.5 million in Mexico, $4.5 million in Hong Kong, $3.7 million in Germany and $3.5 million in Brazil. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One grossed an estimated $14.0 million from international IMAX screens (including $4.0 million from China), which places the film's global IMAX take at $25.0 million through Sunday. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will open in Japan this coming Friday (July 21).

On the heels of last week's impressive start, Angel Studios's Sound of Freedom exploded in its second weekend of release by increasing 37.2 percent over last weekend to place in second this weekend with an estimated $27.00 million. This type of second weekend hold is pretty much unheard of at the box office for an already wide release, but Sound of Freedom benefited from a combination of not-so-typical factors this weekend, including exceptional word of mouth (the film received a perfect A+ rating on CinemaScore), expanding to an additional 413 locations this weekend (and holding onto a very high percentage of its average showtimes from last weekend in holdover locations), last weekend's three-day gross having been deflated at least somewhat by the Tuesday midweek opening and by continuing to receive a boost from the film's Pay it Forward ticket program, in which tickets for the film are being purchased online for others to claim tickets for free. It also appears that the Jim Caviezel-led Sound of Freedom has struck a chord with similar audiences that made The Passion of the Christ a break-out performer way back in 2004. Sound of Freedom has grossed an estimated $85.50 million through 13 days of release and isn't showing signs of slowing down anytime soon (as long as the film continues to hold onto locations and showtimes).

Sony and Blumhouse's Insidious: The Red Door took third place with an estimated $13.00 million. That represented a sharp, but reasonable 60.6 percent decline from last weekend's debut. The ten-day domestic total for Insidious: The Red Door stands at $58.09 million. That is a healthy 19.4 percent ahead of the $48.66 million ten-day start of 2018's Insidious: The Last Key (which declined 58.0 percent in its second weekend to gross $12.42 million) and already places Insidious: The Red Door within striking distance of the $67.75 final domestic gross of Insidious: The Last Key. Internationally, Insidious: The Red Door grossed an estimated $21.5 million this weekend from 57 international markets, which brings the film's international total to $64.5 million and current global haul to $122.6 million (which is quite impressive given the film's modest price-tag). This weekend saw Insidious: The Red Door debut with $3.8 million in Indonesia and $0.77 million in Vietnam. Additional estimated totals for Insidious: The Red Door by international market through Sunday include $10.1 million in Mexico, $6.6 million in the United Kingdom, $6.0 million in the Philippines and $3.4 million in France.

Disney and Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny fell to fourth place this weekend with an estimated $12.00 million. That was down a sizable 56.2 percent from last weekend, as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was unable to stabilize this weekend, due in part to the new direct competition from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. In addition to losing its IMAX screens to Dead Reckoning Part One this weekend, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny played in 735 fewer locations this weekend than it did last weekend and also took a significant hit to its average showtimes per location. The 17-day domestic total for the expensive Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny stands at an underwhelming $145.36 million. The situation for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny won't be getting any easier next weekend either, with the mentioned combination of Barbie and Oppenheimer entering the marketplace. Internationally, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny grossed an estimated $17.0 million this weekend from 52 international markets. Respective totals stand at $157.0 million internationally and at $302.4 million globally. Estimated totals for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny by international market through Sunday include $21.0 million in the United Kingdom, $15.1 million in France, $12.8 million in Japan, $9.9 million in Germany, $9.4 million in Spain, $9.3 million in Australia, $6.4 million in South Korea, $5.4 million in Italy, $5.1 million in Mexico and $4.2 million in Brazil.

Disney continued to have much better news with Elemental this weekend, as the well-received computer animated film from Pixar declined a slim 13.3 percent to round out this weekend's top five with an estimated $8.70 million. With a 31-day gross of $125.29 million, Elemental has a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 4.23 to 1, as the film continues to benefit from strong word of mouth, holding onto a high percentage of its locations and showtimes and from the lack of new competition for family audiences. It will be interesting to see just what type of hold Elemental is able to have next weekend with the arrival of Oppenheimer and (especially) Barbie. Regardless, Elemental has already had a very nice recovery on the heels of a lackluster debut back in June. Elemental also continued to remain more impressive internationally this weekend with an estimated $28.2 million from 51 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $186.4 million and current global haul to $311.7 million. Estimated totals for Elemental by international market through Sunday include $32.6 million in South Korea, $16.4 million in Mexico, $15.7 million in China, $11.9 million in France, $10.0 million in Brazil, $9.9 million in Australia, $8.6 million in the United Kingdom, $6.9 million in Germany, $6.4 million in Argentina and $5.5 million in Italy.

Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $6.05 million this weekend to place in sixth. The computer-animated blockbuster sequel continued to hold up well by declining just 24.7 percent from last weekend. With an impressive 45-day domestic gross of $368.80 million, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 3.06 to 1 and remains the highest grossing release thus far this summer domestically. Internationally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $5.4 million this weekend from 63 international markets. Respective totals for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse stand at $294.7 million internationally and at $663.5 million globally.

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