‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning’ chooses to accept box office win

Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of July 14-16, 2023.

A quick programming note: The Tuesday edition of Popculturology is going to be on hiatus this summer. I’ve been struggling to find enough content to fill that edition these past few weeks, and I hate to put out a product that I’m not fully confident in.

1. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

Weekend gross: $56.2M
Total domestic gross: $80M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One got a jump on the weekend box office, opening this past Wednesday. The $56.2 million the latest Tom Cruise film added over the traditional three-day weekend brought Dead Reckoning’s total haul up to just under $62 million.

Sure, that’s not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe range of opening weekends, but it’s right in line with the Mission: Impossible franchise’s history. The films have often opened on days other than Friday, which makes the normal comparison a bit difficult.

After seeing Dead Reckoning on Friday, I rewatched the original Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible 2 on Saturday night. It’s wild how different these films were when the franchise began. After the iconic scene of Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hovering from the ceiling, the first movie’s next biggest stunt is Hunt sending an email.

2. Sound of Freedom

Weekend gross: $27M
Total domestic gross: $85.5M
Last weekend: 3rd
Percent increase: 37

When I wrote last week’s Box Office Report, I wasn’t fully aware of Sound of Freedom’s QAnon connections, but since then I’ve seen stories about the film and its audience pop up across the various social media threads I’m on.

One of the funnier stories was fans of Sound of Freedom claiming that movie theaters were trying to sabotage the film with moves like not having air conditioning or forgetting to turn down the lights. These people clearly don’t go to the movies often, because that’s just how things work in 2023. I had to close the theater door when I saw Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to keep light from flooding in, and I’m pretty sure the AMC I saw Dead Reckoning at forgot to turn the air on during that screening.

3. Insidious: The Red Door

Weekend gross: $13M
Total domestic gross: $58.1M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 61

Insidious: The Red Door now sits right in the middle of the box office rankings when it comes to how the Insidious movies have performed in North America. With $58.1 million through two weekend, The Red Door passes Insidious Chapter 3 ($52.2 million) and Insidious ($54 million) and closes in on Insidious: The Last Key’s $67.7 million.

4. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Weekend gross: $12M
Total domestic gross: $145.4M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 56

It’s hard to compare box office numbers from the 1980s to modern-day numbers, but even with 2023 values, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny sits at the bottom of the domestic box office chart for the Indiana Jones franchise. There’s a chance it won’t even surpass Raiders of the Lost Ark’s $225.7 million.

5. Elemental

Weekend gross: $8.7M
Total domestic gross: $125.3M
Last weekend: 4th
Percent drop: 13

It’s not a huge accomplishment, but Elemental has now passed 2016’s The Good Dinosaur ($123.1 million).

Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.

Next weekend

Barbenheimer.

It’s time.