Posted on 05/08/2006 7:32:02 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Mission: Impossible III," the first big action film of the summer, opened disappointingly at the weekend box office in North American, despite a whirlwind publicity tour by its pricey star, Tom Cruise.
The spy thriller sold $48 million worth of tickets in its first three days in theaters across the United States and Canada, distributor Paramount Pictures said on Sunday.
The Viacom Inc.-owned studio said the figure was within its expectations of a bow in the $50 million range, but it was gratified by the international showing, where it earned $70 million after opening virtually everywhere except Japan and India. The movie did bomb in Germany, where Cruise has historically had a tough time, the studio said. The movie cost just under $150 million to make.
Rival studios said they had expected the film to open to at least $60 million domestically. Industry analyst Brandon Gray at boxofficemojo.com said he had expected the movie to kick off with about $70 million, which is where the last two opened after adjusting for ticket price inflation.
"A truly successful sequel needs to open bigger than its predecessor," Gray said, noting that follow-up movies usually burn out more quickly.
He doubted that Cruise's unconventional antics in the past year -- such as jumping on talk show host Oprah Winfrey's couch and his strident support of Scientology -- played a role in the film's underperformance, and instead pointed the finger at a marketing campaign that made the movie seem less fun than its predecessors.
Comparing North American sales with those of the first two "Mission" films is not easy, as those opened during the Memorial Day holiday weekends at the end of May when overall business was stronger.
The first film, directed in 1996 by Brian De Palma, earned an unadjusted $45.4 million during the Friday-to-Sunday period, but its figures would have been higher if not for Tuesday previews and a Wednesday opening. It ended up with $180.9 million. Four years later, John Woo's sequel earned $57.8 million for the same period, ending up with $215.4 million.
The new film ranks No. 2 among North American openings this year, far behind "Ice Age: The Meltdown" with $68 million a month ago, and only $8 million ahead of "Scary Movie 4."
It marks the first release to get the green light from the studio's new chairman and chief executive, former talent manager Brad Gray, who came aboard early last year after the previous regime suffered through several years of underperforming pictures.
Paramount production president Rob Moore preferred to use last year's "Batman Begins" as his yardstick, since both movies resurrected a dormant franchise. The Caped Crusader opened to $48.7 million on its way to $205 million.
The critically acclaimed film marks Cruise's third turn as superspy Ethan Hunt. Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") played the bad guy. After plugging the movie at several major cities overseas, Cruise spent Wednesday on an unusual mission in New York leading media and fans on a wild goose chase around the city.
The film also marks the feature directing debut of TV veteran J.J. Abrams, creator of such shows as "Alias" and "Lost." He stepped in after David Fincher and then Joe Carnahan exited. That was not the only behind-the-scenes drama. Cruise reportedly had to cut his fee after Paramount's new bosses balked at the escalating budget.
While there were some reports that the youthful 43-year-old was losing his female fan base, Paramount said the demographics were exactly the same for all three "Mission" movies: 64 percent of viewers were aged 25 and older, and 56 percent were male.
Overlord G'laacktu will be displeased.
Atlas yawned.
A disappointing opening also gets huge amounts of coverage, and millions of potential viewers sagely nod their heads and say "I knew it would be bad. Glad I stayed home -- and I won't be going next weekend either."
The tepid opening is less of a killer than the reporting of the tepid opening. Word of mouth matters.
It looks like another bang-up year for Hollywood...NOT!
Ol' Tom needs to learn the lesson from the book "Shut Up and Sing".
This is a very good opening, and the spinning in order to make it seem like a bomb is ridiculous.
Out of all of his starring movies, it's his third best opening.
Yeah, I wish I had such a lousy weekend--I had ta work.
Also, this thing has gotten the best reviews of the series; I wouldn't be surprised if ultimately it makes good money.
He's a moron.
He is indeed a moron, but it's hard to see $48 M as a failure. While they may have wished for more, they're not going to be crying very hard on the way to the bank.
There'll be another sequel.
It cost approximately $165 million to make, so it may far exceed that when you pull in world-wide distribution, but this may make them look twice at 'Pretty Boy Cruise', which makes me snicker.
Not as bad as eveyryone is making it seem and it's not a bad movie, so it will do well for a while.
The big problem with this movie is they spent way too much making it. 1 and 2 each grossed around 200 mil domestically (1 a little under, 2 a little over), which is fine money on a 100ish mil production budget. According to all the sites the production budget for 3 is around 150 mil, figure advertising is going to be at least 60, that sets the bar for profitability too high. You should never spend 150 mil to make a movie in a series that "only" makes 200 mil an installment, that's a recipe to make a movie with respectable box office technically a flop.
You forgot Britney and Madonna
Excellent point.
You wanna hear about a bomb?
You know "Poseidon", which is coming out Friday?
I have it from an insider that up to this past weekend they were still trying to decide if they should pull it till the fall.
BOMB ON THE WAY!
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