Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions’ $150 million tentpole feature launches to $65 million overseas for an early total of $121 million worldwide.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions’ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation opened to a pleasing $56 million in North America, easily landing in first place at the North American box office this past weekend. Internationally, the $150 million tentpole feature launched to $65 million from 40 territories for an early world cume of $121 million, including a record-breaking launch of $17.1 million in South Korea.
Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and starring Tom Cruise, Rogue Nation sees Ethan Hunt and his team attempting up against international criminal consortium the Syndicate. Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson also star. Ghost Protocol, the previous installment directed by Brad Bird, revitalized the spy-action franchise, earning $694.7 million globally after its release in 2011, a series best.
Rogue Nation delivered the second-best three-day weekend opening of the franchise, trailing only the second title, which took in $70.8 million over the long Memorial Day weekend in 2000, including $57 million for the weekend itself. Rogue Nation also delivered Cruise his third-best domestic opening of all time after Mission: Impossible II and War of the Worlds ($64.9 million), not accounting for inflation.
From New Line and Warner Bros., Vacation opened in second place, earning $21.2 million for the Wednesday-Sunday stretch including $14.9 million for the weekend. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein and starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann and Chris Hemsworth, the comedy feature, made with a budget of $30 million, had been expected to earn as much for its domestic debut. The movie is a follow-up to National Lampoon's Vacation, directed by Harold Ramis and released in 1983, and picks up as Rusty Griswold (Helms), now grown, takes his own family on a vacation.
Marvel holdover Ant-Man landed in third place, taking in $12.6 million for the weekend for a new domestic total of $132.1 million and global haul of nearly $300 million.
In fourth place, Universal and Illumination's Minions grossed $12.2 million domestically for a North American total of $287.3 million. Overseas, Minions opened in both Japan and South Korea this week, taking in $39.1 million from 62 territories for an international total of $567.3 million and worldwide tally of $854.6 million.
Sony’s Pixels rounded up the top five, taking in $10.4 million over its sophomore weekend for a 10-day North American total of $45.6 million. Pixels opened in 18 new markets overseas this weekend, grossing $19.8 million for a new international total of $56.5 million and global cume of $102.11 million.
Universal’s R-rated Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer and directed by Judd Apatow, came in sixth place at the North American box office with $9.6 million for a new domestic total of $79.7 million.
Jake Gyllenhaal's boxing drama Southpaw, from The Weinstein Co., crossed the $30 million mark in its second weekend at the box office, earning $7.5 million for a seventh place finish and a new domestic total of $31.5 million.
John Green YA film adaptation Paper Towns came in eighth place, taking in $4.6 million for a new domestic total of $23.8 million.
Pixar’s Inside Out came in ninth place domestically with $4.5 million, pushing the animated feature’s North American total to $329.5 million. Overseas, Inside Out brought in an adiditonal $17.8 million for a new international total of $272.7 million, propelling the movie across the $600 million mark globally to $602.3 million.
Rounding up the top ten is Universal’s Jurassic World, which made $3.7 million over the weekend for a new domestic total of $631.4 million. Jurassic World made an addiitonal $4.4 million from 63 territories this weekend, bringing its overseas total to $928 million and its global total to a staggering $1.56 billion. Japan is the final release this Wednesday, August 5.
Elsewhere, China’s Monster Hunt had another solid weekend, taking the top spot with $30.6 despite several new releases. The live-action/CGI hybrid directed by Shrek animation supervisor Raman Hui is already the highest-grossing Chinese language film of all-time in China with $290 million and is closing in on Transformers 4 to become the second highest-grossing film of all-time. Monster Hunt has been the number-one movie in China for its entire 17-day run.
Box office numbers were obtained at pro.boxoffice.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
