'Mission: Impossible — Fallout' Scores Best-Ever Box Office Opening For The 22-Year-Old Franchise

It’s been over two decades since Tom Cruise and his “Mission: Impossible” franchise first hit theaters. Normally, that would mean diminishing returns, with an aging leading man and a sixth entry in the franchise. However, with “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” Cruise has proven that the spy franchise is doing better than ever.

This weekend, ‘Fallout’ hit theaters and earned an estimated $61.5 million, which was easily good enough for the top spot. But surprisingly, the weekend total is also the highest opening ever for the ‘M: I’ franchise, besting “Mission: Impossible II’s” opening of $57..8 million. Even though this weekend’s total is surprisingly big, it’s not completely shocking. ‘Fallout’ is coming to theaters, riding high on the series’ best reviews (currently at a ridiculously high 97% on Rotten Tomatoes) and coming off the fifth entry (‘Rogue Nation’) that many believed to be the best of the series. That is, until ‘Fallout,’ which has been getting hyperbolic praise, comparing it to “Max Mad: Fury Road” and the best action films of all time.

READ MORE: ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’: Action That Is The Cinematic Equivalent Of Multiple Orgasms [Review]

As for Cruise, ‘Fallout’s’ opening weekend also marks the second-best of his career, coming just short of the $64.9 million opening of his collab with Steven Spielberg, “War of the Worlds.” Not too shabby for a 56-year-old actor who still throws himself off of buildings and hangs off the side of helicopters. The huge weekend for ‘Fallout’ comes at a great time for Cruise, who was coming off a disappointing string of films, with “American Made,” “The Mummy,” and “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” all underperforming. Perhaps, this is the shot in the arm he needed to prove to moviegoers that he’s still one of the few names that can carry an action film.

As for the big films last weekend, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” came in at #2 with an estimated $15 million. Unfortunately, this number, while still decent, does not bode well for the legs of the film. The previous entry in the franchise opened lower than ‘Here We Go Again’ but saw incredibly small weekend-to-weekend drops. The -57.1% drop of ‘Here We Go Again’ is just too steep and will no doubt end up meaning this sequel will fall far, far short of its predecessor.

As for other holdovers from previous weekends, “The Equalizer 2” dropped just over -61% in its second weekend for #3 at $14 million. That’s a pretty steep drop, but pretty normal for action films. “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” came in at #4 with another solid weekend of $12.3 million. This threequel has quietly grossed almost $120 million domestically and did well versus the strong kid’s film competition in the top 10.

Speaking of kid-friendly fare, the other big opening this weekend was “Teen Titans GO! To The Movies,” which opened with $10.5 million and a #5 showing. The animated superhero film, based on the similarly titled television series, has great reviews (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and should earn a decent amount for Warner Bros. with the expected strong word of mouth.

READ MORE: ‘Teen Titans Go! To the Movies’ Review: DC’s Animated Movie Is Truly Super

Fun fact: ‘Teen Titans’ joins “Skyscraper” as the only non-sequels in the top 10. However, if you take into consideration that ‘Teen Titans’ is based on a popular TV series and comic book franchise, that leaves “Skyscraper” as the only non-sequel, non-IP film in the top 10. Just shows you exactly what fuels the big summer months nowadays.

Speaking of superheroes, sequels, and major franchises, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” earned another $8.4 million this weekend, which officially puts the sequel above its predecessor in terms of domestic earnings. However, the worldwide total seems uncharacteristically low for a Marvel Studios film. But then again, we must consider the fact that the film has yet to open in China, Japan, and other major territories, so the final story about ‘Ant-Man 2’ is far from written.

And with all this franchise and sequel talk, we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about some of the more original, indie films making money at the box office. The surprising “Sorry to Bother You” is still earning decently, with another $1.45 million and a $13.4 million total. This weekend’s big indie expansion was “Blindspotting,” which had a strong per-theater-average last weekend, but in its expansion didn’t exactly light up the box office with its $1.33 million total.

The other major indie expansion this weekend was Bo Burnham’sEighth Grade,” which is now in 158 locations and pulled in an impressive $1.32 million. We’ll have to see how the film really holds up as it begins more major expansion in the next couple weeks.

Next weekend is sure to bring some interesting box office storylines as Disney’sChristopher Robin” opens against the R-rated comedy “The Spy Who Dumped Me” and the YA film “The Darkest Minds.”

Here’s the full top 10 for July 27 to July 29.

1. Mission: Impossible — Fallout — $61.5M (Debut)
2. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — $15M ($70.4M Total)
3. The Equalizer 2 — $14M ($64.2M)
4. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation — $12.3M ($119M)
5. Teen Titans GO! To The Movies — $10.5M (Debut)
6. Ant-Man & the Wasp —$8.4M ($183M)
7. Incredibles 2 — $7.2M ($573M)
8. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — $6.8M ($397M)
9. Skyscraper — $5.4M ($59M)
10. The First Purge — $2.2M ($65.5M)