Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning set a new record for Tom Cruise.
With $235 million, Dead Reckoning had the best box office debut of any movie the 61-year-old actor has ever starred in.
His films have grossed over $11 billion worldwide and the Mission: Impossible franchise is by far the biggest earner for Cruise.
In fact, the list of Tom Cruise’s highest box-office opening movies features six Mission: Impossible films in the first seven positions.
From the first Mission: Impossible to Dead Reckoning, let’s have a look at how all seven installments performed.
7. Mission: Impossible III – $398 million
READ MORE: Breaking down Tom Cruise’s craziest stunts and world records
The third film (2006) in the franchise was the least profitable.
It was filmed on a budget of $150+ million and ‘only’ grossed $398 million at the box office.
This means it still turned a profit… but only just.
In the film, Ethan Hunt has to save his fiancée Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan) from the baddie Owen Davian, played by the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
6. Mission: Impossible – $457 million
We should start by pointing out that the first Mission: Impossible movie was in fact a huge box office hit.
It was filmed on a budget of $80 million and grossed $457 million – that’s $888 million in today’s money, when adjusted for inflation.
The only reason why it ‘only’ occupies the sixth position on the list is it came out in 1996, back when the US Dollar was worth a bit more than today.
More importantly, the movie opened the floodgates for the franchise.
It was fast-paced and exciting, and it kicked things off for the saga with a stellar cast.
In addition to Tom Cruise and his team, you’ve got Jon Voight playing IMF boss Jim Phelps, Henry Czerny and Vanessa Redgrave.
Jean Reno and Kristin Scott Thomas are also in the movie, starring as former IMF agents Franz Krieger and Sarah Davies respectively.
5. Mission: Impossible II – $546 million
The second film of the series, released in May 2000, has one of the coolest opening scenes ever.
Rock climbing, a Porsche Boxster, an Audi TT, Thandiwe Newton – everything is there.
The plot is pretty straightforward.
Ethan Hunt needs to retrieve a dangerous virus and its cure, Bellerophon, and save the world.
Both the virus and the cure were stolen by former IMF agent-turned-baddie Sean Ambrose, portrayed by Dougray Scott.
The movie did pretty well, grossing $546 million against a budget of $120 million.
4. Rogue Nation – $683 million
Rogue Nation is visually stunning, filmed between Vienna and London, with beautiful sequences shot in Casablanca and Marrakesh in Morocco.
Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg reprise their respective roles, while Jeremy Renner and Alec Baldwin joined the cast as IMF agent William Brandt and CIA director Alan Hunley respectively.
The movie was released in 2015 and did more than well.
It grossed $683 million against a budget of $150 million, making it the then-second-highest grossing film in the franchise.
3. Ghost Protocol – $694 million
With Ghost Protocol (2011), Paramount Pictures decided to change the title format and add something more catchy.
The title is a reference to a special type of protocol that the President of the United States initiates following an attack on Russian soil that could potentially lead to nuclear warfare.
Without official government backup, Ethan Hunt and his team have to save the world by retrieving the launch device and disable the nuclear missiles.
In addition to the usual list of familiar faces, Ghost Protocol also stars Paula Patton as IMF agent Jane Carter, and Léa Seydoux as an assassin who works for the bad guys.
Ghost Protocol was filmed on a budget of $145 million, and it grossed $694 million at the box office.
2. Fallout – $791 million
Fallout (2018) did great at the box office because it cost $178 million to make and grossed $791 million.
Not a bad deal for Paramount Pictures.
Tom Cruise, as ever, did all of his own stunts and actually broke his ankle jumping from a roof in London, which is why filming took a tad longer than expected.
The movie stars Sean Harris as Solomon Lane, the main bad guy, Angela Basset as CIA director Erika Sloane, and Henry Cavill as assassin-for-hire August Walker.
It also stars Vanessa Kirby as arms dealer White Widow.
Kirby reprises her role in Dead Reckoning.
1. Dead Reckoning Part One – $264 million
Dead Reckoning was released about a week ago so it’s still too early to determine where it’ll rank compared to the other movies.
However, we’re going to put it at number one, for now, simply because it had the best debut of any Mission: Impossible movie, with $235 million in the first weekend.
This movie is a big deal because it is a swan song for Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.
Paramount Pictures confirmed that the character will be retired after Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is scheduled to be released about a year from now.
This probably explains the enormous budget: $291 million.
