The Big Picture

  • Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One surpassed $550 million at the global box office, but may end its theatrical run with less than $600 million, the lowest since Mission: Impossible III in 2006. It did, however, surpass Mission: Impossible 2's lifetime haul.
  • The film faced challenges from "Barbenheimer" and lost IMAX screens to Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, which is nearing $800 million worldwide.
  • Dead Reckoning Part One is the most expensive film in the franchise, with a budget of nearly $300 million due to pandemic-related issues.

Now in its seventh week of release, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One has passed perhaps its final major milestone at the global box office. The movie made $2 million domestically this weekend, and added around $5 million from overseas territories over the last week, to take its running global haul past the $550 million mark.

Dead Reckoning Part One has grossed $168 million in domestic theaters, and $383 million from roughly 70 overseas markets, for a worldwide total of $551 million. With little room to grow in the coming weeks, it’s looking like Dead Reckoning Part One will become the first film in the long-running franchise to end its theatrical run with less than $600 million worldwide since 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, which made just under $400 million globally. It has, however, overtaken Mission: Impossible 2's $549 million lifetime haul from 2000.

Dead Reckoning Part One was released just 10 days before “Barbenbeimer” took the world by storm mid-July; it’s a decision that the studio probably regrets now. Not only did the movie lose all-important IMAX screens to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which, by the way, is nearing the $800 million mark worldwide, Dead Reckoning Part One was never able to recover from the hit that it took on “Barbenheimer” weekend. Recent reports suggested that IMAX tried to urge Paramount to consider changing the release date, but to no avail.

Ethan, Ilsa, Benji, and Luther taking a boat across the city in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One
Image via Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise was coming off the biggest hit of his career — Top Gun: Maverick, which made nearly $1.5 billion worldwide last year, and earned the star savior status in the industry. Even his last Mission: Impossible movie, 2018’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout, had finished with nearly $790 million worldwide. For Dead Reckoning Part One to potentially conclude its global run with roughly $100 million less is hardly worth celebrating.

The Movie Experienced Cost Overruns

What makes matters more concerning is the fact that Dead Reckoning Part One is by far the costliest Mission: Impossible movie ever. Pandemic-related issues pushed the movie’s budget to nearly $300 million, which is significantly higher than the roughly $180 million reported price tag for Fallout. But Dead Reckoning Part One isn’t the only movie that experienced cost overruns because of the pandemic; recently, Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, as well as Warner Bros’. The Flash both underperformed in relation to their hefty budgets.

But Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have a shot at regaining lost sheen with next year’s Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two. It is, however, still unclear if the movie will be able to hang on to its current June release date, considering the delays caused by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, coupled with the fact that the movie hasn’t yet finished filming. You can watch our interview with McQuarrie here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.