What’s an impossible mission? Out-adorabling Winnie-the-Pooh, that’s what. But out-earning him? Yeah, that’s possible.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout took the No. 1 slot for the second-straight weekend in convincing, if not dominating, fashion, forcing a bevy of newcomers to fight for the leftovers. Tom Cruise’s lastest cinematic display of derring-do collected about $35 million in North America, according to early estimates, bringing the movie’s total domestic haul to a healthy $124.5 million. That’s a good chunk o’ change no matter how you weigh it, but it looks particularly robust given how much money the studio saved on stuntmen.
Yes, audiences have clearly fallen for Fallout. But Christopher Robin? That answer is as clear as year-old honey.
Christopher Robin, Disney’s latest live-action reimagining of a beloved animated property, finished second to Fallout with a $25 million weekend, which was a bit below what prognosticators had prognosticated. But it’s hardly time to shutter the Hundred-Acre Wood just yet: The August movie slate doesn’t boast many flicks aimed at kids and families, which means Robin may just hang around for a while. And as Pooh says, “I always get to where I’m going by walking away from where I’ve been.” So there.
Another freshman film, the hard-R, Bond-esque spoof The Spy Who Dumped Me, landed in third place with around $12.4 million and is already in need of a rebound relationship with audiences.
A couple of three-week-old holdovers continued to battle each other, albeit farther down the charts from where they debuted. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again got the best of The Equalizer 2. The former warbled its way to $9.1 million, while Denzel Washington’s gritty actioner banked $8.8 million to close out the top five.
Meanwhile, The Darkest Minds, the weekend’s third major release, proved that not just any ol’ dystopian teen fantasy can make tons o’ money. This would-be franchise opener earned just $5.8 million stateside, finishing a dismal eighth. That’s the 11th-worst opening ever for a film released in more than 3,000 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. And if it was looking to salvage its rep overseas, forget it: Minds earned just $4.1 million in foreign markets, which means that the future of this nascent franchise might be pretty dark itself.
Finally, permit me a rather geeky diversion: Black Panther, already the year’s highest-grossing domestic film, earned about $35,000 this weekend to push its total to a nice, tidy $700 million. Why is this significant? Because even though the movie’s been out on video for nearly three months (and its original release came in the ancient reaches of February), traditional, popcorn-scented theaters are still making money on the thing. For those scoring at home, that figure makes it the third-biggest domestic film ever, trailing just Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avatar.
Wakanda forever indeed.
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