Dead Reckoning Has Launched The Mission: Impossible Movies Past $4 Billion At The Box Office

Much attention has been paid to "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" and its performance at the box office. More specifically, the movie is performing relatviely well, at least compared to its gigantic $300 million budget. In short, the seventh entry in the long-running action series fell at least a little short of expectations, which were admittedly sky-high. Even so, Tom Cruise's latest adventure as Ethan Hunt still quietly pushed the franchise past an important milestone.

The "Mission: Impossible" series has now cumulatively crossed the $4 billion mark at the global box office. According to The Numbers, the seven films have collectively taken in $4.11 billion to date, including the $541.8 million earned by "Dead Reckoning, Part One" so far. That averages out to $588.3 million per entry, with an average budget of $159 million per entry. Even though the budget for this latest installment was greatly inflated, it's easy to see why Paramount has continued to crank these out over the last 28 years.

The highest-grossing installment in the franchise remains 2018's "Fallout," which took in an impressive $786.6 million globally against a $178 million budget. The movies found a new groove once writer/director Christopher McQuarrie took over on 2015's "Rogue Nation." McQuarrie and Cruise have developed quite the partnership, which also extends to other hits like "Edge of Tomorrow" and, most importantly, "Top Gun: Maverick," which is now one of the biggest movies ever. Needless to say, they're probably going to keep this partnership going.

Rather crucially, Cruise and McQuarrie are already collaborating on "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two." That movie was in the middle of filming when the Screen Actors Guild went on strike, which forced production to stop. Unfortunately, there seems to be no end in sight to this strike or the Writers Guild of America strike, the combination of which has effectively shut down Hollywood. Assuming things do get worked out in a timely manner, Paramount intends to have "Part Two" in theaters next summer.

The question now becomes, can "Mission: Impossible" cross the $5 billion mark? At this stage, it looks like "Dead Reckoning, Part One" is going to fail to turn a profit in theaters, with the break-even point pegged at around $600 million worldwide. So the burden would be on "Part Two" to pull in around $880 million to get the franchise to that particular milestone. That feels unlikely but not impossible, if you'll pardon the pun. This summer's installment had the misfortune of competing with "Oppenheimer" for IMAX screens, not to mention the juggernaut that "Barbie" became.

Next summer, Cruise probably won't have to contend with another Barbenheimer, so those premium format screens will help the cause. There's also the matter of audiences wanting to see the thrilling conclusion of the "Dead Reckoning" storyline. Either way, what this series has accomplished with the same lead actor over nearly three decades is nothing shy of impressive.

"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two" is currently set to hit theaters on June 28, 2024.