Interesting, interesting. “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” is at $180 million as of today. Paramount is looking at $200 million soon, making Tom Cruise’s fifth segment as Ethan Hunt a grand slam home run. Remember, they started slow out of the gate? The Paramount gang gets the last laugh on this one. No amount of Scientology voodoo adverse publicity about Cruise hurt them.
So what happened? Well, “Man from UNCLE” fell apart. “Fantastic Four” collapsed upon impact. “Jurassic World” was already past its impressive peak when Ethan went on the hunt. Nothing came along to replace it.
And then: the breakout movie of late summer, “Straight Outta Compton,” was just a totally different demographic. So was “War Room.” Those are the two movies that caught on. This week, “War Room” won the weekend with $9.3 million. “Compton” was close behind with $8.85 mil. “Compton” is nearing $150 million. They could also go to $200 million. Mission possible!
“War Room” puts Sony back on the charts after a terrible year. And Warners is about to have a huge boost out of “Black Mass” with Johnny Depp. Universal, already breaking records, should have a monster in “Steve Jobs” after initial reviews from Telluride. Curiously, reviews are already turning up with “Citizen Kane” and Kubrick references. Just like with the “Social Network.” What a coincidence!
