Mission Impossible 7 Suffers Worst Box Office Drop in Franchise History

Mission Impossible 7 has suffered the words box office drop in franchise history in its second weekend.

Dead Reckoning Part 1 hit theaters on July 12 to rave reviews, becoming the highest-reviewed movie in the long-running series. 

This resulted in Tom Cruise’s blockbuster earning $56.2M domestically over its opening weekend, and $80M over its five-day opening week total. This five-day number was 3% (via Box Office Pro) more than the franchise’s previous best, 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

However, the sustained success of the latest Mission film had been in question seeing as it was released one week before the incoming box office juggernauts Barbie and Oppenheimer. 

Mission Impossible 7 Is Hit Hard at the Box Office

According to new data, Mission Impossible 7 suffered the biggest second-weekend box office drop in franchise history. 

The film saw an estimated 64% drop in gross from its domestic opening weekend after earning a meager $19.5 million domestically. 

Mission Impossible 2, the current franchise record holder for a second-weekend drop, saw a 53.3% dip in box office revenue during its theatrical run in 2000.

This comes as both Barbie and Oppenheimer opened to great success in theaters, with Oppenheimer specifically pulling Mission Impossible off premium format screens (ie IMAX) because of an exhibitor agreement with director Christopher Nolan. 

The full list of Mission Impossible movies and their second-weekend box office drops can be seen below:

1. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 – 64% (projected)
2. Mission: Impossible 2 – -53.3%
3. Mission: Impossible – -52.4%
4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – -48.7%
5. Mission: Impossible 3 – -47.6%
6. Mission: Impossible – Fallout – -42.3%
7. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – +131.2% (opening weekend had a limited theater count [425])

What Is the Cause of Mission Impossible 7’s Woes?

While the latest big-screen blockbuster seeing a drop in its second weekend at the box office is nothing new (especially during the crowded summer months), Paramount would likely have wanted this Mission Impossible dip to not be as big as it was. 

After the immense success that was Tom Cruise’s last film, Top Gun: Maverick, the MI studio was probably hoping Dead Reckoning Part 1 would ride some of that Top Gun momentum despite releasing into the hyper-competitive theatrical environment it did. 

There are a number of factors at play here though that are likely to blame for the film’s more than 50% drop off in revenue. 

The first is that Mission Impossible generally skews older than other summer blockbuster fare. This restricts the franchise’s earning potential right from the start. 

Of course, there are instances where films like this do break through (ie Oppenheimer), but it is an extra encumbrance that the movie has to endure that some of its competitors may not.

The second, and probably biggest factor, is the fact that Mission Impossible 7 only got one week in premium format screens like IMAX.

Christopher Nolan and Universal had an agreement to have the nuclear-era biopic Oppenheimer occupy all the IMAX screens across North America for three weeks. 

This is something that Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise was reportedly “pretty pissed” about, but nevertheless, MI7 was bumped to smaller screens, meaning the movie could only make so much per screen compared to the more expensive IMAX showings. 

Mission Impossible 7 is playing in theaters worldwide now.