ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Saturday Update: "Mission Impossible III" Grossed $17M on Friday

Box Office Saturday Update: "Mission Impossible III" Grossed $17M on Friday

by RT Staff | May 06, 2006

Tom Cruise topped the box office with his highly-publicized spy sequel Mission: Impossible III on Friday which grossed an estimated $17M in its first day of release.

The figure for the Paramount franchise film was almost identical to the $16.5M that its predecessor MI2 grossed on its first Friday during the Memorial Day frame in 2000. Ticket prices were much lower six years ago plus the second Ethan Hunt pic debuted on a Wednesday which softened its Friday performance. Given MI3's Friday bow, higher ticket prices, and 400 additional theaters, industry expectations saw the new installment opening with more muscle.

Mission III's opening day gross fell a bit below those of some other recent star-driven summer spy flicks. Matt Damon's The Bourne Supremacy opened in July 2004 with a Friday take of $19.1M on its way to a $52.5M weekend while last June's Mr. & Mrs. Smith bowed to $18.6M leading to a $50.3M frame. This weekend, Tom Cruise and pals may find themselves with $45-50M over the Friday-to-Sunday period.

Two smaller films also set sail on Friday at theaters across North America. The supernatural thriller An American Haunting debuted with an estimated $2M while the kid drama Hoot opened with an estimated $1M. For the weekend, look for three-day grosses of about $5-6M for Haunting and roughly $4M for Hoot.

Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 37% for RV, 54% for Stick It, and 59% for United 93.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $30.3M on Friday which was up 17% from a year ago when Kingdom of Heaven bowed to a Friday gross of $7.3M on its way to a $19.6M weekend debut.

Author: Gitesh Pandya, BoxOfficeGuru.com

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(1-16 of 16 posts) | Reply

ksduded writes:
on May 06 2006 10:38 PM

[b]lower than expected[/b]
well it certainly grossed lower than i expected... if it falls to the 45-50m range then do we have to doubt Tom Cruise's star power... cause MI is a bankable franchise... the promotion was good and it was a good movie for a change...

(Reply to this)

The Senhman writes:
on May 06 2006 10:44 PM

[b]Yeah[/b]
Significantly lower than what everyone was expecting. Maybe the couching jumping did hurt his drawing power. Still, $45-50M is nothing to complain about.

(Reply to this)

Paul_Is_Drunk writes:
on May 07 2006 01:18 AM

Who actually was excited to see this opening day? (I'm not trying to rip the movie, I'm just curious).

(Reply to this)

lachjuso writes:
on May 07 2006 06:50 AM

I thought the movie was great! A friend and I went to see it on Friday evening and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I am a Tom Cruise fan and consider his personal life just that - his personal life. I would not expect Tom to emulate me or believe in things because I do and I feel the same way about him. His personal life is none of my business and I enjoy him as an entertainer. I've always perceived Tom as a little nervous during interviews and he gets overly excited and that does not bother me. Also, these interviewers realize that Tom is somewhat radical in his views and they bait him to gain ratings for themselves. They use Tom to further their own selves. Honestly, people should get on with their own lives and stop hating Tom Cruise.

(Reply to this)

lovelykeira writes:
on May 07 2006 09:50 AM

Right on lachjuso, it was a good film and I agree with everything your saying about Cruise. Sounds like it's going to be an alright opening weekend but it's to bad that it's not doing as good as expected or better.

(Reply to this)

IMAmoose24 writes:
on May 07 2006 11:00 AM

MI:III was a good film. It had a pretty good story and GREAT acting. Hoffman scared the living s*** out of me and you could feel ethan's pain. MI:III was pure fun. The best part i'd have to say, is the first scene with Simon Pegg. He cracks me up when he's not even trying that hard.

(Reply to this)

CrazyGhost78 writes:
on May 07 2006 11:46 AM

I agree wholehearidly with everything lachjuso and lovelykeira said. Great movie.

(Reply to this)

getomans writes:
on May 07 2006 01:37 PM

[b]MI3 still made a lot of money and it might have a[/b]
Screw high expectations, $48 million dollars for MI3 in the weekend is still good(in fact 2nd highest opening of this year so far). I expected more in this weekend(about 50-60 mil), but the opening is still solid, a way better opening than Kingdom of Heaven($19 mil) last year. The movie was great-lots of action and lots of fun, the Universal City theater in hollwood was packed so that showed that a lot of people wanted to watch the movie. Also, MI3 is the best reviewed movie of the franchise so far so that's a good sign for strong legs in the box office.

(Reply to this)

haelohm writes:
on May 07 2006 01:54 PM

[b]strong legs[/b]
this movie might have been thought to not be worth it but after word of mouth and such it will have good legs and i predict that poseidon wont do very well opening weekend and this will hold up very well.

(Reply to this)

mizzoucritic writes:
on May 07 2006 02:31 PM

My guess is the movie won't hit $200 million in receipts and that will make it go down at as a failure (considering marketing, Cruise, Hoffman, Abrams, etc.). It is much better than Kingdom of Heaven's opening, true. But for having 4,054 screens, $48 million is pretty low.

"MI:3" will only have one more week to make big bucks, as not many people (at least from what i've heard) are interested in "Poseiden." ("It's totally 'Titantic' again," one girl told me after seeing the trailer.) But after "Da Vinci Code" pops up, "MI:3" is done, leaving it will a probable $160-180 million domestic take.

(Reply to this)

Bane Of Anubis writes:
on May 07 2006 02:48 PM

In reply to this comment (#835268)
[b]Right on[/b]
Tom Cruise is a coot of a hoot of a crazy man, but he makes fun movies.

(Reply to this)

Rab75 writes:
on May 08 2006 06:19 AM

[b]GAY?[/b]
I like Tom, he seems like a nice decent guy. Is the rumour true that he's gay? What's wrong with being gay anyway?

(Reply to this)

gbwillner writes:
on May 08 2006 03:08 PM

[b]reasons[/b]
Maybe this movie did poorer than expected because:
1. people remember MI:I and MI:II, which sucked horribly, and
2. The robots that go watch these type of movies will stay home because they are now upset at their prettyboy Cruise for being a crazed, gay scientologist.

(Reply to this)

Rab75 writes:
on May 08 2006 05:43 PM

[b]Tom in South Park[/b]
This film dosen't seem so exciting but I probably wouldn't mind watching it. I went to see his last film I don't even remember what it was called.
You know the one where he saved his kids from the evil aliens attacking the earth. It annoyed the crap out of me. All the stupid cliche. zzzzZZZZZ

Did anyone here watch the South Park episode with Tom coming out of the closet. I f***ing missed it but it sounded hilarious......

Do you think his fans'd turn against him if he was gay? Why? Some people are weird..........

But do you think he is??

(Reply to this)

TheIceGhost writes:
on May 08 2006 07:41 PM

In reply to this comment (#835274)
160-180 million? I'm assuming that means the US alone, but I really doubt it will do that. My guess would be around 100. In general movies never make as much as they do opening weekend, and after this upcoming weekend it will fall off the charts pretty fast with Da Vinchi and Xmen rounding the bend...and after this weekend the theater count will drop significantly so, the gross is really going to drop.

also, I did see the South Park episode with Tom Cruise, and it was hilarious....

(Reply to this)

foolofatook writes:
on May 12 2006 10:17 PM

In reply to this comment (#835279)
So, by what you say, the film's opening weekend will make up 48% of its final gross? Even Big Momma's House 2 has a better opening weekend to final gross ratio.

To get a better understanding of what a film will typically make, take its opening weekend gross and multiply it by 2.9. That would peg MI:III at around $140 million. However, summer blockbusters typically don't have impressive legs, though there are always exceptions (Batman Begins). That being said, I think $130 would be a farily good projection. And with around $250 overseas, it'll approach $400 million worldwide. A far cry from what the previous two (especially MI:II) performed.

(Reply to this)

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