Weekend Box Office: Bombs Away?

By: Karl Schneider
Date: Monday, May 08, 2006
Source: Box Office Mojo

Mission: Impossible 3 (MI3) crushed the competition this weekend to take the number one spot on the weekend charts with an estimated gross of over $48 million.

Big numbers for sure, but still a bit of a disappointment for the Tom Cruise led franchise. Predictions and tracking had originally thought MI3 would open well over $60 million. The failure to break even $50 million for the weekend will be seen as a disappointment throughout the industry. The good news is, no couches were converted to Scientology during the making of the film. Always look on the bright side.

Oddly enough, MI3 wasn't the biggest disappointment among the openers this weekend. That designation belongs to Hoot, which only managed a measly $3 million from over 3,000 theaters. The tag line for the movie was an ironic "it's time to stand up for the little guys."

Also opening this weekend was American Haunting, which pulled in over $6 million from just over 1600 theaters. Not a great opening, but it could have been worse (See Hoot).

RV, which released last weekend, held up well despite the arrival of MI3, pulling in a very respectable $11 million in it's second weekend. United 93 fell off by over 50% from last week. Despite stellar reviews, it seems people just weren't ready for United 93.

Weekends Top 10 (May 6-8, 2006)

Mission: Impossible 3 - $48,025,000
RV - $11,100,000
An American Haunting - $6,380,000

Stick It - $5,522,000
United 93 - $5,211,000
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $4,000,000
Silent Hill - $3,900,000
Scary Movie 4 - $3,763,000
Akeelah and the Bee - $3,400,000
Hoot - $3,400,000
The Sentinel - $3,000,000

Numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo

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Comments/Responses

• May 08, 2006, 05:51am •

MI:3 only making

snallygaster • May 08, 2006, 07:11am •

Actually, Hollywood will see this as a referendum on Tom Cruise, not sequels in general. Last year's "War of the Worlds" was a hit, but it had Spielberg and all the special effects to counter any negative impact of Cruise's recent outbursts.

I saw MI3 this weekend and thought it was OK, but not great. It felt like a two hour "Alias" with a different cast. And I think therein may be part of the box office problem with MI3 - since MI2, we've had at least two shows coming at us on a weekly basis which do the same thing as the MI franchise, either as good ("Alias") or better ("24"). When the first two installments of MI came out, there were no comparable TV shows. Combine that with Cruise's falling Q ratings, and the lower than expected box office isn't a surprise.

As for this movie marking the end of sequels and remakes, don't count on it. The other two new releases were not sequels or remakes (one horror movie, one family movie), and they opened lower than expected as well. The more the box office slides, the more the studios play it conservatively - and that means more remakes, more sequels, more low-budget horror movies, and more movies based on pre-sold properties (like "The DaVinci Code").

• May 08, 2006, 07:58am •

I saw MI3 over the weekend and really enjoyed it; Hoffman was absolutely terrific as the villain. Cruise's Hunt character showed a little depth in his character and the action was top-notch. I don't care about Cruise's personal life at all, just his movies and I thought this one delivered the goods.

almostunbiased • May 08, 2006, 09:07am •

I can't believe how many articles I've read that say MI3 is a flop because it only made 48 million.
That kills me.

I haven't seen it yet, but I will next weekend.

• May 08, 2006, 09:07am •

MI3 sucked bigtime. With Cruise's nutty antics in real life, I couldn't suspend my disbelief for a couple of hours. I kept seeing the insane scientologist instead of Ethan Hunt. He's ruined himself and I hope Hollywood sees him as damaged goods from now on.

lracors • May 08, 2006, 09:29am •

The problem with MI: III is that it cost $150 million dollars to make. Therefore, the film had to gross about $70+ million in the first weekend with internal multipilies and all that other computational crap to be considered a guaranteed blockbuster hit. Now, the studio is sucking in their breath to see if the international market will be able to make a dent in the huge cost of the film not to mention advertisement cost. etc... etc... A good film or not, the film needed to be nearly flawless given that 1) It's a sequel 2) It's expensive as hell 3) Unfortunately, the public seems to care what stars do outside of the film. I personally don't give a crap like Wessmith, unfortunately too may crap shows like E-Weekly and tabloids make it seem like we should care. I don't. I would like to see MI: III, but I haven't even sceen MI: 2 yet... that was due to bad reviews that MI: 2 got. Too many films... too little time. Anyway, point being that it will be very hard for this film to get into the black without international support.

• May 08, 2006, 09:34am •

I definitely think Cruise is the reason the movie only did 48Mil. Actually, the total lack of decent movies playing right now stopped it from tanking even worse. DVC and X3 will bury MI3

snallygaster • May 08, 2006, 09:45am •

almostunbiased, the reason it looks like MI3 is a flop is because the industry expected it to make $60M this weekend. With a start of $48M, it will be impossible to make the $300M domestically it needs to be considered a success (although it should do well in the international market).

I went to the the multiplex extra early for a Sunday matinee, expecting lines for tickets and the concession stand. Instead I ended up getting into one showtime earlier than I expected because the theater was just freakin' empty! By the time the movie started rolling, the theater I was in was very sparsely populated for what's supposed to be the first "tentpole" movie of the season.

• May 08, 2006, 09:49am •

Jeditemple-you state that MI3 sucked "bigtime," but then go on to say that YOU couldn't suspent YOUR disbelief. That has nothing to do with MI3! That would be like saying "Godfather sucked bigtime. In real life, Marlon Brando is crazy!" Is the problem with the movie or with you?

Why did MI3 suck? The last time I checked, Cruise's antics in "real life" weren't featured in the flick. Besides, it's America. If Cruise wants to worship aliens, who the hell cares? If that's what gets him through the night, he can worship Jabba the Hutt for all I care. I don't see why people think this issue is at all important to their lives.

MI3 was a good movie. Tom Cruise is a wacky dude. Get over it.

• May 08, 2006, 09:59am •

I agree with post #9 - what does it matter if Cruise is going over the edge in his personal life. It seems to me that the majority of movie stars are a little crazy; maybe that's what makes them good at their profession. I don't know, but I do know that when I saw MI3 this weekend I saw Ethan Hunt in another adventure; not some egomaniac scientologist who seems to be nuts about Joey Potter. MI3 was a good action movie and a great way to start off the summer movie season.

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