There was quite a bit of difference over two heavily hyped films at the box office. “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” is the 5th installment in a franchise that could have easily died 3 films ago. Tom Cruise has fought to push it back and while Schwarzenegger and Sandler are failing Cruise has somehow found a way to keep people coming back to watch “Mission: Impossible.” The film didn’t do spectacularly but it did well enough to make more than the other 4 films in the Top 5. It also has the best reviews, including ours.
Meanwhile, “Vacation” failed pretty hard. Trying to remake a beloved 80’s flick doesn’t usually go well. Watching trailers of the actors covering themselves in human shit doesn’t really seem like anything I want to see, or bring back nostalgia of Chevy Chase and a station wagon.
| Rank | Title | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Total Gross | Week # | |||||
| 1 | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Par. | $55,520,089 | – | $55,520,089 | 1 | |||||
| 2 | Vacation | WB (NL) | $14,681,108 | – | $21,003,442 | 1 | |||||
| 3 | Ant-Man | BV | $12,802,644 | -48.6% | $132,331,563 | 3 | |||||
| 4 | Minions | Uni. | $12,387,375 | -46.0% | $287,578,650 | 4 | |||||
| 5 | Pixels | Sony | $10,503,023 | -56.3% | $45,714,520 | 2 | |||||
A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a film’s success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.
All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.