Mission: Impossible 8 Could Break a Major Franchise Record During Its Opening Weekend

Moviegoers are ready to flock to the theaters to see Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The upcoming action sequel, which could be Tom Cruise's final for the franchise, has just made a splash on the long-range box office tracking website Quorum.

According to Quorum (via Deadline), The Final Reckoning is set to gross "well north of 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout's $61 million," which would be a record three-day opening for the long-running action franchise. If this tracking holds, it would mark a major comeback for the Mission: Impossible franchise after its last installment, 2023's Dead Reckoning, underperformed at the box office, largely due to opening in theaters just before the global sensation Barbenheimer.

Dead Reckoning opened with $54.7 million domestically, a noticeable drop from the $61 million that Fallout made back in 2018. The 2023 movie, the first of a two-part story, currently has the fourth-best opening for the franchise, with 2015's Rogue Nation and 2000's Mission: Impossible II coming in higher with $55.5 million and $57.8 million, respectively. While a $61M+ opening for The Final Reckoning would be huge for the franchise, the movie is not expected to top the box office, with Disney's Lilo & Stitch on track for a massive $100M+ opening over the Memorial Day weekend.

Tom Cruise Doubles Down on Dangerous Stunts in Mission: Impossible 8

If The Final Reckoning does turn out to be Cruise's last Mission: Impossible, the fan-favorite actor is making sure nothing is left on the table when it comes to the stunts, which have become a defining factor of the franchise. The recent trailer for the action sequel, which is set roughly two months after the events of Dead Reckoning, showed Cruise hanging from the side of a 1930s Boeing Stearman biplane. The actor also risked hypoxia to film a dangerous underwater sequence for The Final Reckoning, which sees Cruise's character Ethan Hunt trapped in the Sevastopol submarine's wreckage.

Special equipment was required to pull off the stunt; however, Cruise could only wear the equipment for 10-minute intervals due to oxygen issues. Despite this limitation, Cruise pushed the limits of those intervals, leading to an increased risk of hypoxia. "I’m breathing in my own carbon dioxide. It builds up in the body and affects the muscles. You have to overcome all of that while you’re doing it, and be present," detailed Cruised back in February.

Christopher McQuarrie returned to direct The Final Reckoning after having helmed the previous three installments. Besides Cruise, returning franchise alums for the eighth Mission: Impossible include Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge, Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane, and Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis.

Also back after making their franchise debuts in Dead Reckoning are Hayley Atwell as Grace, Esai Morales as Gabriel, and Pom Klementieff as Paris. Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, and Katy O'Brian round out the ensemble.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will be released in theaters on May 23.

Source: Deadline