How the wave of 'Oppenheimer' and 'Barbie' impacted Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible 7' at the box-office | Explained

July was a chaotic and crazy month for fans at the movies. Three massively anticipated and budgeted films came out in a space of just nine days. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opened worldwide on July 12 and Oppenheimer and Barbie came out on 21. Cruise was expected to sail through the ticket windows but it seems was suffocated, if not entirely chocked and crushed, by the gargantuan two-way clash.

Budget and box-office

Made at a budget of $290 million, Cruise’s film has raked $376.26 million at the worldwide box-office so far. But the cracks began to show even before the two big names stormed the cinemas.

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After a globe-trotting publicity blitz by star Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” launched with a franchise-best $80 million over five days, though it came in shy of industry expectations with a $56.2 million haul over the three-day weekend, according to studio estimates.

The Paramount Pictures debut was boosted by strong overseas sales of $155 million from 70 markets. But while a $235 million worldwide launch marked one of the best global openings of the year, “Dead Reckoning” couldn’t approach the high-speed velocity of last summer’s top film, “Top Gun: Maverick.”

“Dead Reckoning Part One,” the seventh film in the 27-year-old series, had been forecast to better the franchise high of the previous installment, “Fallout,” which opened with $61 million domestically in 2018. Instead, it also fell short of the $57.8 million “Mission: Impossible II” debuted with in 2000.

Challenges during the pandemic

Those costs were inflated, in part, by the pandemic. “Dead Reckoning,” directed by Christopher McQuarrie, was among the first major productions to shut down by COVID-19. It was preparing to shoot in Italy in March 2020. When the film got back on track, McQuarrie and Cruise helped lead the industry-wide recovery back to film sets – albeit with some well-publicized friction over protocols along the way.

Paramount’s distribution chief speaks up

In a statement that came before the July 21 crisis, Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Paramount, said, “This is a global franchise. It’s going gangbusters and its going to play for a long time. Quality always wins in the end.”

“Dead Reckoning,” Aronson said, met or exceeded the studio’s expectations.

“In international markets, in like-for-like markets, we’re 15% ahead of ‘Fallout,’ and that’s taking China out,” added Aronson. “Domestically, we’re over 3% ahead of ‘Fallout’ for the first five days. To beat its predecessor is phenomenal, especially in this environment.”