LOS ANGELES — The stakes may be high for Ethan Hunt and his team in “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” but it was hardly impossible for the Tom Cruise pic to conquer the box office.

The fifth installment in the nearly 20-year-old film series has earned $56 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Opening weekend audiences were 62 percent male and 81 percent over the age of 25.

It’s the second-highest opening for a “Mission” film since “Mission Impossible II” took in $57.8 million over Memorial Day weekend in 2000. Rentrak’s Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian said Cruise is to credit for making these films one of the longest-running viable franchises on the market.

“He created a new Tom Cruise in the minds of audiences. He came off as very approachable, funny, he did the lip synching with Jimmy Fallon. This is the playbook on how a star – who is also a producer on the movie – gets the word out about his movie,” he said. “He’s a marketing machine.”

The Paramount and Skydance Productions film from writer-director Christopher McQuarrie cost a reported $150 million to produce and should have no problem making up its budget, especially with overseas earnings.

Besides generating some of the best reviews in the series, “Rogue Nation” was bumped up on the release schedule from Christmas to summer somewhat last minute – even though they were still shooting the movie well into the spring.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.