tom cruise movies box office

Rank of Tom Cruise's movies by Box office performance

1. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

2. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

3. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

4. War of the Worlds

5. Mission: Impossible II

6. Mission: Impossible

7. The Last Samurai

8. The Mummy

9. Mission: Impossible III

10. Edge of Tomorrow

11. Minority Report

12. Rain Man

13. Top Gun

14. Austin Powers in Goldmember

15. Oblivion

16. Jerry Maguire

17. The Firm

18. Knight and Day

19. A Few Good Men

20. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

21. Jack Reacher

22. Collateral

23. Vanilla Sky

24. Valkyrie

25. Tropic Thunder

26. Cocktail

27. Eyes Wide Shut

28. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

29. Born on the Fourth of July

30. Days of Thunder

31. Far and Away

32. American Made

33. Risky Business

34. Lions for Lambs

35. Rock of Ages

36. The Color of Money

37. Magnolia

39. The Outsiders

40. All the Right Moves

42. Losin' It

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‘if’ buddies up to $59m ww; ‘kingdom of the planet of the apes’ rises to $237.5m – international box office, breaking news.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Tom Cruise’s Highest Grossing Movie At Domestic Box Office Crossing $300M Today – Monday AM Update

By Anthony D'Alessandro

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Editorial Director/Box Office Editor

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Monday AM:  Top Gun: Maverick   keeps breaking the sound barrier at the box office as the Tom Cruise movie saw its second weekend come in higher with $90M and a running U.S./Canada total of $295.6M. As we wrote all along, that’s a domestic record for Cruise and co-financier Skydance. In addition that -29% second weekend ease is the best for a movie that’s opened to $100M+.

Nancy and I agree: Too soon to call an ultimate $1 billion on the Cruise movie, but besting his top grossing film worldwide,  Mission: Impossible – Fallout  at $791M is definitely in the realm of possibility.  Top Gun 2  will cross $300M this afternoon. The sequel’s second Friday saw $25M, Saturday was $36M (+44%) with Sunday dipping 19% to $29M.

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Los Angeles, NYC, Dallas, San Francisco, Phoenix and Atlanta remain the Paramount pic’s best markets, but the overindexing ones are Seattle, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Portland, OR, Kansas City, KS; and Nashville.

Universal’s  Jurassic World Dominion  arrives this weekend with at least a $100M+ start.

Sunday AM writethru final after Saturday AM Update : Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick held throughout the week, and it’s holding at a brilliant steady in weekend 2. The sequel’s -32% ease is the best for a wide release that opened to $100M+, ahead of the -40% weekend 2 posted by Star Wars: The Force Awakens  in December 2015 as well as 2004’s Shrek 2  (-33%).

Top Gun 2 clocked  $86M,  which will put it at $291.6M EOD today; easily the best Tom Cruise has ever seen at the domestic box office, and Skydance’s as well (beating Star Trek Into Darkness ‘ $228.7M). The Joseph Kosinski-directed movie cashed in a second Friday at $25M, $5M ahead of where we saw it on Friday afternoon. The sequel’s global stands at $548.6M , and it will need to topple  Mission: Impossible – Fallout  ($791.6M) to become both Cruise and Skydance’s top grossing movie ever around the world.

EntTelligence reports 6.5M moviegoers came out to see Top Gun 2  in its second weekend, taking its running admissions count to north of 22M. The average ticket price for the movie has dipped from $12.68 to $12.53. Premium large format ticket sales continue to drive per EntTelligence with a 32% share, the same as last weekend. Imax reports that their auditoriums eased 21% in weekend 2, repping close to 13% of weekend 2 ticket sales or $11M for a near $40M running cume. Next weekend all Imax screens cede to Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion.  On Saturday, EntTelligence reports that 51% came out to see  Top Gun 2 before 7PM.

The sequel is playing broadly. In weekend 2 PostTrak exits, Top Gun 2  is seeing 38% over 45, with the 25-34 crowd delivering the best attendance at 24%, followed by 45-54 at 20%. Still a marvelous audience response here at five stars and a 75% definite recommend. Men over 25 were big over the weekend at 43% (95% grade), then women over 25 at 38% (93% grade), with men under 25 at 11% (95%) and women under 25 at 8% (82% grade). Paramount reports that the under 35 demo gained 3% in weekend 2 from weekend 1, now standing at 49%.

Spots RelishMix about the sequel’s social media, “Exit chatter continues to fly positive for the film, for the cast, and the experience — with mentions of how ‘expectations were exceeded’ and those who waited 36-years for a Hollywood sequel that fans are calling an ‘instant classic’ and cinematic ‘big-screen thrill ride’; claiming, ‘I like streaming at home, but nothing beats seeing a great big movie in the theater’ as fans are pushing to spread-the big-screen Imax message. Social shout outs go out to Iceman, Rooster, Phoenix, Payback, Fanboy, Hangman and remembrances of Goose. Coming off of Cannes, new social speculation swirls around big nominations odds — and potential to include this tentpole to extend Oscar fan viewership. Some of the topical chatter touches on how well Top Gun may spike military recruitment — plus discussions whether this is the end of an era of manned battle flights, as AI pilots and drones continue to emerge.”

The new cast members to the franchise haven’t let up in pushing the film to fans:

Phoenix & 🐓 pic.twitter.com/UqpRYb63SG — Miles Teller (@Miles_Teller) June 4, 2022

Glen Powell’s muscle beach:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Glen Powell (@glenpowell)

Top Gun 2  is leading all titles during the 22nd weekend of the year to an overall estimated haul of $119.6M, which is -31% from the same pre-pandemic weekend in 2019. How do we continue to be off in a marketplace where there’s a big movie leading the charge? Same old answers: It boils down to the lack of product, and how studios are continuing to be cautious. During the May 31-June 2, post-Memorial Day weekend, there were three new studio titles appealing to a variety of demos: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (which was No. 1 with $47.8M), Rocketman  with $25.7M, and horror movie  Ma  with $18M.

Then there was weekend 2 of  Aladdin  in the No. 2 spot, with $42.8M. For the rest of the summer, studios seem to be bobbing and weaving around major blockbusters on the calendar, i.e., no one is going wide against Jurassic World Dominion  on June 10, Lightyear on June 17,  Minions: The Rise of Gru on July 1, or Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8.

That type of booking by the majors signifies their current belief that it’s a one picture per weekend marketplace. They’re even practicing that distribution method into August with smaller movies, and that’s a time when more can feasibly be booked on the calendar.

What’s optimistic is that just because summer ends, that doesn’t mean people stop going to the movies, as evident in last October. But we need product. People are coming; they just need a reason. Hopefully the turnaround in older demos here by Top Gun: Maverick  will provide others with confidence to put more on the schedule, because there’s plenty of opportunity out there.

Other great things occurring at the box office sans any major studio wide entries: A24’s  Everything Everywhere All at Once crossed  $60M in its 11th weekend with $2M . When will the Daniels’ movie quit? Not yet. “It’s going to be around for a while,” says one insider close to the pic. Some rivals see possibly another $10M in U.S./Canada. With a weekend decline of -17%, that’s the lowest for a movie in the top 10 this weekend. After becoming A24’s highest grossing title stateside, Everything Everywhere All at Once  will also become the studio’s overall top global grossing movie this week, surpassing Hereditary ‘s $80.2M.

The other prolific opening of the weekend is NEON’s moderate (Comscore had it originally listed on the calendar as wide) release of David Cronenberg’s kinky dystopian surgery movie Crimes of the Future,   which grossed $1.1M in tenth place at 773 locations in 146 markets, or a $1,4K theater average.

The pic scored a six minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival world premiere. It’s Cronenberg’s first movie since 2014’s Maps to the Stars.  A 78% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a divided result from those who bought tickets at 51%. I hear that the movie did OK in big cities on the coasts and Canada, but the further you got away from those markets, the more ticket sales became smaller.

No surprise, as Cronenberg has a cult appeal. His biggest opening at the box office belongs to one of few major studio distributed movies on his resume, that being 20th Century Fox’s The Fly, which opened to $7M and legged out to $40.4M in late summer 1986. After that, the filmmaker’s second-biggest opening at the box office was his 1983 Stephen King feature adaptation of The Dead Zone, with $4.55M; and these were major studio titles back in their heyday.

Here’s what’s interesting, and again, granted, it’s pretty small. But when you get into Cronenberg’s core, die-hard, gritty genre titles at the domestic box office, the opening here for Crimes of the Future  ranks behind 1988’s Dead Ringers ($3M opening at 1,042 theaters; which Crimes of the Future arguably plays as a call-and-echo piece to) and 1983’s Videodrome ($1.19M at 600 theaters). So by Cronenberg’s own slide rule,  Crimes of the Future  is par for the course.

Social media corp RelishMix observed, “Neon took a simple approach for Crimes of the Future on social, with materials predominately built onto channels for the studio, with YouTube views at 4M+ views for owned-and-earned videos for the three trailer/spots — plus there are seven Facebook videos in place as the film platforms out from the Cannes premiere.”

Among the Cronenberg devotees on social, RelishMix reports, “Chatter runs positive, as horror fans are definitely drawn to see the latest psychological mind-and body-bender by the horror maestro, ‘I love that even a 79-year-old Cronenberg can still shake up the squares better than anyone else.’ — and the cast with Viggo Mortensen’s very selective roles and Kristen Stewart fanatics, too.”

As major studios leave gaps at the box office in their bookings, Indian cinema is taking advantage of those auditoriums. Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram   centers around Amar, a policeman who is deployed for secret assignments. He’s been sent to get a gang of masked men who might be responsible for a series of serial killings. However, Amar himself might not be all that he’s cracked up to be. Some 131 markets with prints in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil are seeing good numbers in NYC, LA, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, DC, Atlanta and Detroit. Estimated outlook is $1.77M .

Trumpets for Disney this weekend:  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness  clicks to $909.4M WW , the second highest-grossing MPA movie of the pandemic era after Spider-Man: No Way Home  ($1.89 billion) and the highest-grossing title YTD. It’s also the tenth highest-grossing MCU movie of all-time. Who needs China and Russia to get to a billion nowadays?

1.)  Top Gun: Maverick  (Par) 4,751 (+16) theaters, Fri $25M (-52%), Sat $35.8M , Sun $25.2M , 3-day $86M (-32%), Total $291.6M /Wk 2

2.)  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness   (Dis) 3,765 (-40) theaters, Fri $2.6M (-43%), Sat $3.8M , Sun $2.77M , 3-day $9.25M (-42%)/Total $388.7M /Wk 5

3.)  Bob’s Burgers Movie  (20th/Dis) 3,425 theaters, Fri $1.3M (-76%), Sat $1.9M,   Sun $1.22M , 3-Day $4.5M (-63%), Total $22.2M /Wk 2

4.)  The Bad Guys   (Uni) 2,869 (-75) theaters, Fri $940K (-25%), Sat $1.37M , Sun $1M , 3-day $3.34M (-24%), Total $87.2M /Wk 7

5.)  Downton Abbey- A New Era  (Foc) 3,451 (-379) theaters, Fri $990K (-46%), Sat $1.18M , Sun $830K ,  3-day $3M (-48%), Total $35.7M /Wk 3

6.) Everything Everywhere All at Once  (A24) 1,434 (+247) theaters, Fri $567K (-18%), Sat $808K , Sun $646K , 3-day $2M (-17%), Total $60.5M /Wk 11

7.) Vikram  (Ind) 465 theaters, Fri $875K , Sat $541K , Sun $354K , 3-day $1.77M /Wk 1

8.)  Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 2,092 (-237) theaters Fri $445K (-33%), Sat $710K , Sun $570K ,  3-day $1.725M (-30%), Total $188.3M /Wk 9

9.)  The Lost City   (Par) 811 (-216) theaters, Fri $400K (-18%), Sat $595K , Sun $385K , 3-day $1.38M (-34%), Total $104M /Wk 11

10.)  Crimes of the Future   (NEON) 773 theaters, Fri $515K , Sat $340K , Sun $245K , 3-day $1.1M /Wk 1

Friday Midday Update: Moviegoers aren’t losing that loving feeling for  Top Gun: Maverick  this weekend as the movie is destined to become Tom Cruise’s top-grossing movie ever at the domestic box office with $273.6M. The 3x Oscar nominee’s previous high earning title was Steven Spielberg’s 2005 sci-fi title War of the Worlds  at $234M.

Top Gun 2  is expected to beat  War of the Worlds  on Saturday; the Joseph Kosinski-directed sequel eyeing a second Friday of $20M , -61% against last Friday (+ previews) on its way to a 3-day of $68M , -46%. Some rival studios see it much higher, but again, it’s still early.

Top Gun 2  ended its first week with $205.6M. This weekend, the Paramount/Skydance movie will fly over such Cruise lifetime stateside totals as  Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol ($209M),  Mission: Impossible II  ($215M), and  Mission: Impossible – Fallout  ($220M, the highest grossing title at domestic B.O. in that franchise).

Here’s how the rest of the weekend is looking per industry estimates:

1.)  Top Gun: Maverick  (Par) 4,751 (+16) theaters, Fri $20M (-61%), 3-day $68M (-46%), Total $273.6M /Wk 2

2.)  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness   (Dis) 3,765 (-40) theaters, Fri $2M (-55%), 3-day $6.5M (-59%)/Total $385.9M /Wk 5

3.)  Bob’s Burgers Movie  (20th/Dis) 3,425 theaters, Fri $1.1M (-80%) 3-Day $4M-$5M (-64%), Total $22.2M+ /Wk 2

4.)  The Bad Guys   (Uni) 2,869 (-75) theaters, Fri $850K (-32%), 3-day $3.1M (-29%), Total $87M /Wk 7

5.)  Downton Abbey- A New Era  (Foc) 3,451 (-379) theaters, Fri $850K (-54%), 3-day $2.6M (-55%), Total $35.3M /Wk 3

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Tom Cruise’s biggest box-office movies ranked – as ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ breaks new record

Is the evergreen star now the surest bet in blockbusters?

Top Gun: Maverick is officially a global box-office phenomenon, breaking multiple records since its release last month.

With a running worldwide haul of $900 million, not only has it flashed past the original Top Gun ’s earnings ($440 million when adjusted for inflation) like an F/A-18 passing a parked car, it’s become Tom Cruise’s biggest-ever box-office hit.  It dethrones Cruise’s previous biggest money-maker, 2017’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout , which took $787 million globally.

Cruise’s career, of course, spans four decades, with his pre-blockbuster work focusing on smaller-budget dramas like Cocktail , and Risky Business .  Those films scored a more modest global box office total of $170million and $63 million respectively, but were made on minuscule budgets of $20 million each (a mere fraction of Top Gun: Maverick ’s rumoured budget of $170 million).

With over $10 billion in worldwide receipts over his 40-year career, the top ten Cruise movies are otherwise dominated by the vastly popular Mission: Impossible series:

1. Top Gun: Maverick – $885 million 2. Mission: Impossible – Fallout – $787 million 3. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $694 million 4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – $680 million 5. War of the Worlds – $606 million 6. Mission: Impossible 2 – $549 million 7.  Mission: Impossible – $457 million 8.  The Last Samurai – $456 million 9.  Rain Main – $412 million 10. The Mummy – $409 million

Unsurprisingly, the evergreen franchise dominates the list taken from  box office site The Numbers . With two further sequels scheduled for 2023 and 2024, it’s practically guaranteed they will storm their way to   the top half of this list upon release.

Cruise’s highest-earning non-franchise movie is Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds in 2005. Adapting HG Wells’s classic science-fiction novel from its Victorian England setting to contemporary America, the movie gave him his biggest-ever opening weekend – at least, until Top Gun: Maverick came along and stole its thunder.  

The actor’s recent non-tentpole efforts have tended to fizzle out with audiences, with 2012 musical Rock of Ages and 2017 action-comedy American Made both struggling to land big numbers. But stick the Cruiser in a cockpit, on a tall building or in the path of an implacable alien foe, and it’s whole different story. Rounding out the top ten is 2017’s The Mummy , a big-budget remake of the classic horror series that was due to spawn a shared universe of films. While not exactly a box-office bomb, lacklustre audience reaction and negative reviews led its studio, Universal, to cancel all further plans for its so-called ‘Dark Universe.’

With the exception of 2016’s Mission: Impossible 3 - with a relatively paltry $398 million - every instalment in the spy franchise has earned more money than its predecessor.

With Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One arriving in July 2023, it stands a strong chance of dethroning Top Gun: Maverick as Cruise’s biggest-earner.

Read our review of Top Gun: Maverick here . The best Tom Cruise movies . 

• Jon Hornbuckle

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Tom Cruise's 15 Highest-Grossing Films

From legacy sequels to intense spy thrillers, Tom Cruise is quickly proving himself to be one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood today.

With Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One making a respectable introduction at the worldwide box office, Tom Cruise is quickly reasserting himself as one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood today. The new spy thriller now looks to join the many other massive hits in Cruise's celebrated acting career.

Thanks to popular hits like the Top Gun movies and well-regarded franchises like Mission: Impossible , Tom Cruise knows how to turn a film into a financial success. According to Box Office Mojo, several of his films have been particularly successful, earning incredible profits at the worldwide box office.

Updated on January 19, 2024 by David Giatras: As Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One arrives on Paramount+ shortly, it is a reminder that movie audiences have seen Tom Cruise grace the silver screen for many memorable films. A certified movie star and bankable name at the box office, Cruise has been in some very profitable movies in his decades-long career.

15 Rain Man (1988)

$354,825,435.

After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.

10 Biggest Questions Left After Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One

Rain Man is a 1988 film following Tom Cruise's Charlie Babbit, the supposed heir to his father's fortune until he discovers his long-lost brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), who has savant syndrome. After discovering that Raymond is set to inherit their father's money, Charlie does his best to get legal custody of his brother--and thereby possession of his newfound fortune.

Against a moderate budget estimated to be around $25 million, Rain Man made over $350 million at the worldwide box office , becoming a phenomenal success. The film went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and has since become a staple of American cinema.

14 Top Gun (1986)

$357,288,178.

As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.

Top Gun stars Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a Navy pilot who trains at the United States Navy's Fighter Weapons School. As Maverick competes to be top in the class, usually competing against Iceman (Val Kilmer), he strikes up a relationship with one of his instructors, Charlie Blackwood (Kelly McGillis).

Top Gun is one of Cruise's most iconic roles in his filmography and continued the impressive run that he had in the 1980s. It also had a re-release in 2021 in anticipation of Top Gun: Maverick . The film ended up being a hit and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. In the film, Cruise uttered one of the most famous lines in movie history: "I feel the need, the need for speed!"

13 Minority Report (2002)

$358,372,926, minority report.

The franchise combines elements of tech noir, whodunit, thriller, and science fiction genres, as well as a traditional chase film, as the main protagonist is accused of a crime he has not committed and becomes a fugitive.

In Minority Report , Cruise plays Precrime Chief John Anderton in a future world where police can stop crimes before they take place. Anderton is then framed for murder and must go on the run to prove his innocence with the help of a pre-cog, Agatha (Samantha Morton).

Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film grossed $358.3 million on a $102 million budget, which provided Cruise with another hit on his hands. While the film was successful and left audiences wanting more, no sequel ever came to be. A television series based on the film was released in 2015 with no involvement from Cruise and was canceled after just 10 episodes.

12 Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

$370,541,256, edge of tomorrow.

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

Warner Bros. Pushing for Edge of Tomorrow Sequel After Tom Cruise Deal

Edge of Tomorrow follows Major William Cage (Cruise), a soldier who relives the same day over and over again while fighting aliens who have invaded Earth. As Cage relives each day, his skills get better and better as he looks for a way to defeat the invaders.

The film grossed an impressive $370.5 million worldwide but had a hefty budget of $178 million, which hurt its returns. A sequel has languished in development hell ever since, but Cruise recently signed an overall deal with Warner Brothers to develop franchise films, and it is rumored that a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow could be one of those films.

11 Mission: Impossible III (2006)

$398,479,497, mission: impossible iii.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt comes into conflict with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer who threatens his life and his fiancée in response.

Mission: Impossible III continued the adventures of Agent Ethan Hunt, Cruise's signature role. Hunt must return to duty after retiring from IMF fieldwork and goes up against a sadistic arms dealer in Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The film was the franchise debuts of Simon Pegg and Michelle Monaghan.

The film currently stands as the lowest-grossing film in the Mission: Impossible series, only grossing $398.4 million at the box office. Despite this, it was still considered a great summer blockbuster movie that only proved that Cruise had a box office star quality to get viewers into seats at movie theaters.

10 The Mummy (2017)

$409,953,905.

An ancient Egyptian princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

The Mummy is a disappointing action movie remake based on the Brendan Fraser franchise of the same name. Starring Tom Cruise as a grave robber who accidentally awakens an ancient spirit, The Mummy was intended to kick off an entire cinematic universe revolving around Universal Studios' monster characters.

Although The Mummy is among Tom Cruise's highest-earning films, its worldwide total of just over $400 million was far from enough to justify its massive budget. As such, The Mummy became a one-and-done film, leaving any sequel ideas on the table and bringing an end to Universal's Dark Universe before it has even really begun.

9 The Last Samurai (2003)

$454,627,263, the last samurai, tom cruise's 10 best performances.

The Last Samurai follows Tom Cruise's Nathan Algren, a Civil War veteran who has become disillusioned with his country after experiencing the horrors of war. After being sent to Japan as a mercenary, Algren is captured by a village run by samurai. The samurai train him in their ways and eventually accept him as one of their own.

Despite the controversies around the film, The Last Samurai has generally been considered to be one of Tom Cruise's best films . Accordingly, the movie is also one of his most successful, earning over $450 million worldwide, an impressive number even unadjusted for inflation. At the time, The Last Samurai was Cruise's highest-grossing project outside of the Mission: Impossible movies, helping the actor expand his reach beyond a single franchise.

8 Mission: Impossible (1996)

$457,696,391, mission: impossible.

A veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

Tom Cruise's first outing as Ethan Hunt happened almost thirty years ago in 1996's Mission: Impossible . The film is set in the same continuity as the television series of the same name. The movie follows a cast of mostly new characters, several of whom became mainstays in the incredibly successful franchise that followed.

Mission: Impossible was an unmitigated financial success, earning over $450 million at the worldwide box office despite mixed critical reviews. The film's high gross led to the development of a sequel, leading to one of the most celebrated spy thriller franchises of all time.

7 Mission: Impossible II (2000)

$546,388,108, mission: impossible ii.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt is sent to Sydney to find and destroy a genetically modified disease called "Chimera".

10 Best Characters in Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One

Four years after the original film became a hit, Mission: Impossible II saw the return of Tom Cruise's IMF agent for yet another high-stakes mission. This time, Ethan Hunt is recruited to locate and defeat a rogue IMF agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), before he unleashes a deadly virus into the world.

Despite generally worse reviews, Mission: Impossible II earned almost $100 million more than its predecessor. The sequel's success helped solidify Tom Cruise's place as a bankable action star. This also lead to the production of yet another installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, which was quickly proving to be immensely popular.

6 Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

$567,535,383, mission: impossible - dead reckoning part one.

Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One follows Ethan Hunt as he and his team work to track down the Entity, a powerful AI, before it falls into the wrong hands. Hunt's mission proves to be his most dangerous yet, and has some surprising ties to his past.

This entry grossed $567.5 million at the box office, and while many films would dream of those kinds of numbers, it proved to be a letdown for the franchise. The previous three entries all grossed over $680 million, and it did not help that the film's budget was a whopping $219 million. Its release during the summer of 2023 was also hurt by the "Barbenheimer" cultural phenomenon, with both Barbie and Oppenheimer grossing $1.4 billion and $955 million at the box office, respectively.

5 War Of The Worlds (2005)

$603,873,119, war of the worlds (2005).

Directed by Steven Spielberg, a sudden and terrifying alien invasion challenges a fractured family's bond as they navigate a world thrown into mayhem. The narrative centers on a father's resolve to keep his children safe while civilization collapses around them.

Based on H.G. Wells' seminal novel of the same name, War of the Worlds is a film by director Steven Spielberg following an alien invasion of Earth. Tom Cruise plays a working man who fights to save his family as the world crumbles around them.

With the combined power of Spielberg and Cruise, War of the Worlds became a powerhouse at the box office, earning over $600 million worldwide. The film was the highest-grossing entry in Cruise's filmography at the time and remained so for several years thereafter. Despite its unadulterated financial success, War of the Worlds never received any sequels, spinoffs, or reboots.

4 Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)

$682,716,636, mission: impossible - rogue nation.

Ethan and his team take on their most impossible mission yet when they have to eradicate an international rogue organization as highly skilled as they are and committed to destroying the IMF.

Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation kicked off a new era of the franchise as it became more serialized than previous installments. It also introduced a core team and a recurring villain in the Mission: Impossible franchise . The film is also notable for being the first installment of the franchise to be directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has since become one of Tom Cruise's most frequent collaborators.

Rogue Nation was very successful, with a worldwide box office total of nearly $690 million. Although it didn't earn quite as much as its immediate predecessor it still brought in an impressive haul. The fifth Mission: Impossible movie became a template for all future installments, each of which would have McQuarrie return to direct and write.

3 Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)

$694,713,380, mission: impossible - ghost protocol.

The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.

10 Major Characters The Mission Impossible Franchise Needs To Bring Back

Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol began the evolution from average action movie to international sensation. Director Brad Bird helped to deliver one of Tom Cruise's best films yet. The film follows Ethan Hunt as he runs from his own agency after being framed for a terrorist attack.

With nearly a $700 million haul, Ghost Protocol proved that audiences still had an appetite for the Mission: Impossible franchise, even four films in. The film became the highest-grossing entry in the franchise as well as in Tom Cruise's career until it was surpassed in 2018 by Mission: Impossible -- Fallout .

2 Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)

$791,657,398, mission impossible: fallout.

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies, race against time after a mission gone wrong.

Mission: Impossible -- Fallout is the sixth entry in Tom Cruise's signature franchise and the second installment to feature writer-director Christopher McQuarrie. The film follows Ethan Hunt and his team as they uncover a terrorist scheme to free the villainous Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) and set off a series of nuclear attacks around the world.

Not only is Fallout considered to be one of the best Mission: Impossible movies yet, but it is also currently the most profitable. The film's success led Paramount to greenlight two additional sequels, Dead Reckoning Part One and Part Two , with Cruise and McQuarrie both returning.

1 Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

$1,495,696,292, top gun: maverick.

After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

More than thirty years after the original film, Top Gun: Maverick brings back Tom Cruise's titular fighter pilot for another adventure. In the 2022 movie, Maverick returns as an instructor at Top Gun. This is where he helped a group of recruits hone their skills in preparation for a dangerous mission against their country's enemies.

Top Gun: Maverick was a runaway success, earning more than four times the original film's box office total. The 2022 film is currently Tom Cruise's highest-grossing film by far and the actor's only project to break $1 billion. Even more importantly, Maverick is often credited as a major factor in the film industry's recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing audiences back to theaters in droves.

Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning' rides to No. 1 with $80M for 5 days

NEW YORK − After a globe-trotting publicity blitz by star Tom Cruise, "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" launched with a franchise-best $80 million for five days, though it came in shy of industry expectations with a $56.2 million haul for the three-day weekend, according to studio estimates.

The debut was boosted by strong overseas sales of $155 million from 70 markets. But while a $235 million worldwide launch marked one of the best global openings of the year, "Dead Reckoning" couldn't approach the high-speed velocity of last summer's top film, "Top Gun: Maverick."

"Dead Reckoning Part One," the seventh film in the 27-year-old series , had been forecast to better the franchise high of the previous installment, "Fallout," which opened with $61 million domestically in 2018. Instead, it also fell short of the $57.8 million "Mission: Impossible II" debuted with in 2000.

That puts the film's opening-weekend tally very close to the tepid launch of Disney's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," which opened in U.S. and Canadian theaters with $82 million for five days and $60 million for the three-day weekend. Paramount had higher hopes for the action extravaganza of "Dead Reckoning," which cost $290 million to make, not counting marketing expenses.

Those costs were inflated, in part, by the pandemic. "Dead Reckoning," directed by Christopher McQuarrie, was among the first major productions shut down by COVID-19. It was preparing to shoot in Italy in March 2020. When the film got back on track, McQuarrie and Cruise helped lead the industry-wide recovery back to film sets – albeit with some well-publicized friction over protocols along the way.

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Still, "Dead Reckoning" was hailed as a high point in the franchise. Critics ( 96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes ) and fans ( an "A" on CinemaScore ) alike came away awed by the stunts and chases of the latest "Mission: Impossible" film.

Though the coming competition of "Barbenheimer" − the much-anticipated debuts of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" − looms, "Mission: Impossible" should play well for weeks to come.

"This is a global franchise. It's going gangbusters and its going to play for a long time. Quality always wins in the end," says Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Paramount.

"Dead Reckoning," Aronson said, met or exceeded the studio's expectations.

"In international markets, in like-for-like markets, we're 15% ahead of 'Fallout,' and that's taking China out," added Aronson. "Domestically, we're over 3% ahead of 'Fallout' for the first five days. To beat its predecessor is phenomenal, especially in this environment."

Ranked: 'Mission: Impossible'? We order every movie (even 'Dead Reckoning') from worst to best

Cruise, the so-called savior of movie theaters last year, traveled tirelessly to again pump life back into a summer box office that's been sluggish. After a splashy world premiere in Rome with a red-carpet on the Spanish Steps, Cruise and McQuarrie surprised theaters in Atlanta, Miami, Toronto and Washington D.C. in the days ahead of opening.

"Dead Reckoning" hit theaters at a crucial mid-summer period for Hollywood, and not just because of the SAG-AFTRA strike which began Thursday. "Mission: Impossible" launched a week before one of the biggest box-office showdowns of the year.

Though "Dead Reckoning" and "Oppenheimer" have vied for some of the same IMAX screens, each film has publicly endorsed the idea that a rising tide lifts all blockbusters. Cruise and McQuarrie in early July even bought opening-weekend tickets to both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig and "Oppenheimer" filmmaker Christopher Nolan reciprocated with their own gestures of support.

However that trio of films performs over the next few weeks will do a lot to determine the fate of the summer box office.

"These are a crucial couple of weeks for the industry starting this weekend," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. "It's going to be a fun reinvigoration of the box office because we have had a few films underperforming. Really, the summer movie season restarts this week with 'Mission' leading into 'Barbenheimer.' "

No other new wide release challenged "Mission: Impossible" over the weekend. Second place went to the faith-based political thriller "Sound of Freedom," which increased 37% in its second weekend with $27 million. Jim Caveziel stars in the child sex trafficking drama.

Spoilers! You won't believe who dies in 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning'

Last week's top film, " Insidious: The Red Door " slid to third with $13 million in its second weekend. "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" is dropping quickly with $12 million its third weekend, with a domestic total so far of $145.4 million.

In limited release, the mockumentary "Theater Camp" opened to $270,000 from six theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

Final numbers are expected Monday.

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Tom Cruise Reaches Biggest Opening Weekend Box Office of Career with 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Previously, Tom Cruise's biggest opening weekend was War of the Worlds , which debuted to $64 million back in 2005

Tom Cruise is reaching new heights with his long-awaited sequel.

Top Gun: Maverick , a follow-up to the 1986 original, earned an estimated $124 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, becoming Cruise's biggest opening weekend yet, according to Variety . It's also the movie star's first film to debut to more than $100 million, and, including Monday's holiday ticket sales, the Memorial Day weekend total is projected to be $151 million.

For Cruise, who also headlines the Mission: Impossible franchise, his highest opening weekend prior to Top Gun: Maverick was War of the Worlds , which took in $64 million upon its debut back in 2005.

At the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month, the 59-year-old actor said he "never" considered doing a streaming release for Top Gun: Maverick , which had its big-screen rollout delayed because of the pandemic.

For more on Top Gun: Maverick , listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"That was never going to happen. Ever," said Cruise of the sequel's streaming-debut possibility. "I make movies for the big screen."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE 's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the new film follows Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell 30 years after his graduation from TOPGUN Naval aviation program, when he is called back as an instructor for the elite fliers. Among his young charges is Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw ( Miles Teller ), the son of his late best friend Goose ( Anthony Edwards in the first movie).

Teller, 35, is among the actors cast as a new class of pilots, which includes Glen Powell , Greg Tarzan Davis , Jay Ellis, Monica Barbaro and Lewis Pullman . Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm also star, and Val Kilmer reprises his role from the original.

Cruise did his best to warn the new recruits about the flying stunts they'd be performing in the film. "I was very clear in the beginning: 'This is what it's going to be like. It's not for everyone,' " he recently told PEOPLE for a Top Gun special edition . "I want people to enjoy the experience. 'If you don't want to be involved, totally, I understand.' "

Said Pullman, 29, of Cruise, "Every one of the pilots has a story of him talking about what he thinks is great about them, what they can do with that quality. He teaches you, basically, how Tom Cruise became Tom Cruise ."

Top Gun: Maverick is now playing in theaters.

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All Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked By Tomatometer

Top Gun: Maverick is back in theaters for Rotten Tomatoes’ 25th anniversary screening series at AMC — get tickets now !

From his teen idol days in the early ’80s to his status as a marquee-lighting leading man today, Tom Cruise has consistently done it all for decades — he’s completed impossible missions, learned about Wapner time in Rain Man , driven the highway to the danger zone in Top Gun , and done wonders for Bob Seger’s royalty statements in Risky Business , to offer just a few examples. Mr. Cruise is one of the few honest-to-goodness film stars left in the Hollywood firmament, so whether you’re a hardcore fan or just interested in a refresher course on his filmography, we’re here to take a fond look back at a truly impressive career and rank all Tom Cruise movies.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) 97%

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) 96%

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) 96%

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015) 94%

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) 93%

Risky Business (1983) 92%

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) 91%

Minority Report (2002) 89%

Rain Man (1988) 88%

The Color of Money (1986) 88%

Collateral (2004) 86%

Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 84%

American Made (2017) 85%

A Few Good Men (1992) 84%

Jerry Maguire (1996) 84%

Magnolia (1999) 82%

Tropic Thunder (2008) 82%

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) 75%

The Firm (1993) 76%

War of the Worlds (2005) 76%

Mission: Impossible III (2006) 71%

The Outsiders (1983) 70%

Taps (1981) 68%

Mission: Impossible (1996) 66%

The Last Samurai (2003) 66%

Interview With the Vampire (1994) 63%

Jack Reacher (2012) 64%

All the Right Moves (1983) 61%

Valkyrie (2008) 62%

Top Gun (1986) 57%

Mission: Impossible II (2000) 56%

Oblivion (2013) 54%

Knight and Day (2010) 52%

Far and Away (1992) 50%

Rock of Ages (2012) 42%

Vanilla Sky (2001) 43%

Legend (1985) 41%

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) 38%

Days of Thunder (1990) 38%

Lions for Lambs (2007) 27%

Losin' It (1982) 18%

The Mummy (2017) 15%

Cocktail (1988) 9%

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‘Mission: Impossible’ for Tom Cruise: Meeting Hollywood Expectations

The seventh film in the 27-year-old movie franchise was No. 1 at the box office, taking in $80 million over its first five days. But the movie industry was hoping for more.

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By Brooks Barnes

Reporting from Los Angeles

Tom Cruise’s seventh “ Mission: Impossible ” spectacle, which arrived in theaters on Wednesday and cost at least $400 million to make and market, was supposed to mark a turning point at the troubled summer box office. Death-defying stunts! A new love interest! That thrilling theme song !

Ticket sales were solid. But the spectacular (and perhaps unrealistic) result that Hollywood expected did not materialize , extending concern about the movie capital’s overreliance on aging franchises — and adding to studio dread about what kind of damage the actors’ strike might have on the rest of the high-stakes summer slate.

As an added vexation, a low-budget movie from outside the Hollywood system, “ Sound of Freedom ” (Angel Studios), which some critics have attacked as a recruiting tool for the far right, became a box office phenomenon.

“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, took in $56.2 million over the weekend in the United States and Canada, for a total of about $80 million since it opened on Wednesday. Overseas, the two-hour-43-minute movie collected an additional $155 million, for a global total of about $235 million, according to Paramount Pictures.

Analysts that track moviegoer interest and use complex formulas to forecast ticket sales had predicted that “Dead Reckoning Part One” would generate about $250 million worldwide over its first five days, with the United States and Canada contributing at least $85 million. “The industry was looking for bigger here,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers.

“This opening is roughly average for an action thriller at this point in its series,” Mr. Gross said about the ultraexpensive “Dead Reckoning Part One,” which received sensational reviews . “Of course, there’s nothing average about this film.”

Mr. Cruise, considered white hot as a box office draw after last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” promoted “Dead Reckoning Part One” with his usual globe-trotting, walking red carpets for premieres in Rome, London, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Sydney and New York. Early last week, he made surprise appearances in movie theaters at preview screenings in cities like Toronto, Atlanta and Miami.

The blistering promotional campaign for “Dead Reckoning Part One” will be Hollywood’s last until a consortium of studios can come to terms with SAG-AFTRA, as the powerful actors’ union is known. On Friday, the union went on strike for the first time in 43 years, saying it was fed up with exorbitant pay for entertainment moguls and worried about not receiving a fair share of the spoils of a streaming-dominated future.

In the coming weeks, studios like Universal, Sony and Disney have movies set for release that will have to do without the promotional star power of people like Denzel Washington (“The Equalizer 3”), Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish (“Haunted Mansion”) and Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx (“Strays”).

For the weekend in the United States and Canada, “Dead Reckoning Part One” played on 4,327 screens and was No. 1, with premium-priced IMAX and other large-format venues contributing 37 percent of ticket sales. “Based on exit poll ratings and recommendations, which were out of this world, this was the best-received ‘Mission’ yet, which speaks volumes about the viability of the franchise,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution.

Mr. Aronson made several other glass-half-full observations, including that, over the first five days, “Dead Reckoning Part One” was comfortably outperforming the franchise’s previous chapter, “Fallout” (2018), in most countries overseas.

Astoundingly, given its cost (about $15 million) and low-wattage marketing campaign, “Sound of Freedom” placed second, taking in $27 million from 3,265 standard screens, for a two-week total of $86 million. The horror film “Insidious: The Red Door,” a similarly low-budget offering from Sony Pictures, finished third, collecting $13 million, for a two-week total of $58 million.

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (Disney-Lucasfilm) epitomized a problem that Hollywood has encountered this summer with franchise spectacles, trundling along behind the top three with about $12 million, for a three-week total of $145 million ($302 million worldwide).

That’s a lot of money, but not nearly enough for a movie that cost at least $400 million to make and market. Since box office revenue is split roughly 50-50 between studios and theaters, “Dial of Destiny” would need to be performing more than twice as well for Disney to make money.

Domestic ticket sales total roughly $5 billion for the year, down about 20 percent from the same period in 2019, the last year before the pandemic severely disrupted moviegoing. And franchise sequels are part of the reason for the decline. Decades of being pumped for profits have left some of these properties with threadbare tires.

The third “Ant-Man” movie, the 10th “Fast and Furious” chapter, the fifth “Indiana Jones” installment and the 12th (“Shazam! Fury of the Gods”) and 13th (“The Flash”) films in the DC Extended Universe have all disappointed, certainly in comparison with their costs.

“In general, audiences are interested in more, more, more of the same, until they start getting satisfied and excited about the next thing,” Mr. Gross, the box office consultant, wrote in his Sunday newsletter.

An earlier version of this article misstated the title of the “Top Gun” sequel released last year. It is “Top Gun: Maverick,” not “Top Gun 2.”

How we handle corrections

Brooks Barnes covers all things Hollywood. He joined The New York Times in 2007 and previously worked at The Wall Street Journal. More about Brooks Barnes

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Shrek 2 Featured an Unexpected Tribute to One of Tom Cruise’s Coolest Mission Impossible Scenes, But You Most Likely Missed it

Shrek 2 turns twenty years old today, that is, May 19. The film was released all the way back in 2004 as a sequel to one of the best and most entertaining animated comedy films known to mankind. The sequel was undoubtedly a success in terms of both box office collection and reviews. Shrek 2 made $935 million at the worldwide box office which is enough proof that fans of the beloved green ogre absolutely loved the movie.

The best part about the sequel has got to be the many, many pop-culture references in the film. From a mermaid who looks quite like Ariel from The Little Mermaid to an iconic line from Seinfeld, Shrek 2 left no stone unturned to give its audience a gazillion easter eggs to look out for. However, the Mission: Impossible tribute in the film takes the cake for the best reference.

Shrek 2’s Nod to an Iconic Scene in Mission: Impossible

No matter how many times you watch Shrek 2 you will probably find a new pop-culture reference with each rewatch. From television to films to fairy tales, the sequel did its best to incorporate a wide variety of jokes and references throughout the 1-hour-33-minute runtime. Our favorite, though, has to be the tribute to Mission: Impossible (1996).

In the first film of the extremely successful franchise, Tom Cruise ’s Ethan Hunt is lowered into a vault room at the CIA’s headquarters by Jean Reno ’s Franz Krieger in order to steal the NOC list. The stakes are quite high as any sound above a whisper will trigger a building-wide lockdown, making it impossible for them to escape.

5 Reasons Why Shrek 2 Is One Of The Best Sequels Of Our Time

Heist scenes are always nail-biting but the one in Mission: Impossible somehow manages to beat them all as it kept the audience on the edge of their seats with eyes glued on the screen for the entire time. When Ethan and Franz finally escape, that’s when the audience, too, can go back to breathing properly.

Now, Shrek 2 did a great job replicating the scene. In order to rescue Shrek, Donkey, and Puss from the knight’s dungeon, the Three Little Pigs pull a Mission: Impossible and lower Pinocchio down to bust their friends out. While the O.G. scene had Cruise dangling by wires, Shrek 2 hilariously made use of puppet strings to carry out the mission.

One of the most important parts of a heist scene has to be the background music which contributes to building the viewers’ anticipation. Therefore, in order to take things to the next level, Shrek 2 brilliantly used the theme of Mission: Impossible during the breakout.

Another Iconic Moment Makes it to Shrek 2

If the remake of the heist wasn’t enough for you to fall in love with Dreamworks’ sequel, then this next scene just might.

When discussions go on about iconic scenes from Hollywood, there is no way you can miss out on mentioning the upside-down kiss from Spider-Man (2002) between Tobey Maguire ’s Peter and Kirsten Dunst ’s Mary Jane.

“I’d do it in two seconds”: Eddie Murphy Still Can’t Believe His Shrek Spinoff isn’t Happening after $484M Puss in Boots 2 Success

In the film, Spider-Man successfully saves the girl from a gang of thugs, and as a thank you, Mary Jane gives him a kiss while he dangled upside-down with his webs. Coming to Shrek 2, Shrek’s ankle gets caught in a trap and he is pulled upside-down after his face gets smeared in mud giving the illusion of a superhero’s mask that hides his identity.

Fiona then comes up to him and they engage in a passionate kiss while Shrek remains upside-down, giving yet another nod to an extremely popular pop-culture moment. Clearly, the team for the animated film knew how to bring in a wide audience!

Stream Shrek 2 on Peacock Premium, Mission: Impossible on Paramount+, and Spider-Man on Disney+.

Planet of the Apes 9-Movie Saga Now Planned, Kingdom Box Office Bodes Well for Sequels

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is king of the box office, which should bode well for the several sequels now being planned.

• The Planet of the Apes franchise is still going strong with the success of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes at the global box office.
• Plans for a nine-movie saga are in place, with the potential for a new trilogy to be launched following the success of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes .
• Director Wes Ball has promised he will not “go into prep” on any sequels until there is a finished script.

There is still a lot of life left in the long-running Planet of the Apes franchise, as most recent outing Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes garners $129 million at the global box office. Which should bode well for the studio’s plans for a nine-movie saga . According to THR , Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes brought in $56.5 million domestically and $72.5 million overseas against its $160 million production budget, giving it the second-best debut of the series in North America.

In more good news, the Planet of the Apes sequel/prequel landed at the higher end of projections , with the report revealing that the movie has excelled among “both younger and older males, as well as an ethnically diverse audience.”

Directed by Wes Ball and written by Josh Friedman, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague ( IT ), Freya Allan ( The Witcher ), Kevin Durand ( Locke & Key ), Peter Macon ( Shameless ), and William H. Macy ( Fargo ), and picks up decades after the most recent trilogy, which ended with 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes .

“Set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Is the Fourth Movie in a Planned 9-Movie Saga

Kingdom of the planet of the apes.

Set several years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the next installment in the Apes saga. Ape clans have taken up residence in the oasis that Caesar sought to colonize, but humans have reverted to their animalistic nature in their absence. Now battling between enslavement and freedom, outliers in the Ape clans will take sides in a newly burgeoning society.

Thankfully for the studio, there is clearly no franchise fatigue when it comes to Planet of the Apes , with Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa now planning a nine-movie saga .

"When you first came up with this idea, the Apes franchise way back, you saw nine movies. We thought, 'This is crazy ambitious.' But here we are. We’re at four," Silver says. Jaffa adds, "I don’t know if we’ll make it to nine. I would love it. We’ve spoken to not just Wes and Josh and [producer] Joe Hartwick Jr., but to Steve Asbell and Scott Aversano at 20th about what these next movies can be."

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Ending Sets Up a Sequel Perfectly

For his part, director Wes Ball has envisioned that Kingdom will launch a new trilogy , with the filmmaker saying, "I don't want to say we end on a cliffhanger, but we certainly end on a new door opening essentially that will allow us to keep going if we want it to, if we were successful enough to.”

The director has also promised that he will not rush into anything following the release of Kingdom , explaining that he will not “go into prep” on any sequels until there is a finished script that he’s satisfied with.

"It'll take as long as it takes. Fortunately, because this franchise is important to the studio, we'll get it right like we did this one, took our time and got it right. Hopefully, people think that. It takes time, the development itself, and my big thing is I do not want to go into prep when the script is not done. I've had to do that in the past. Nothing good comes from that.”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is out now in theaters.

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Box office: tom cruise’s ‘top gun 2’ rockets to record $160.5m opening.

The sequel — earning a coveted A+ CinemaScore — scored the biggest opening of Cruise's career and the biggest Memorial Day weekend ever.

By Pamela McClintock

Pamela McClintock

Senior Film Writer

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Superheroes and horror aren’t the only game in town anymore at the pandemic-era box office.

In a promising sign for the summer season, Paramount and Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick scored the best Memorial Day opening of all time with a projected three-day domestic haul of $126.7 million and $160.5 million for the four days. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the previous record holder with a treasure chest of $153 million, according to Disney.

A better-than-expected Sunday and Monday pushed the estimates higher than the original $151 million weekend reported by Paramount on Sunday, and revised $156 million weekend reported on Monday.

Maverick’ s launch is without a doubt a career best for Tom Cruise , and is the first time he has had a film open to $100 million or more.

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Top Gun 2 started off with a massive $51.8 million on Friday — including $19.3 million in previews — as it opened in more than 4,700 theaters in North America.

Overseas, Top Gun 2 is doing equally impressive business, considering it isn’t playing in either China or Russia. The film opened to $124 million from 62 markets over the weekend for an early global haul of $300 million through Monday, including an updated foreign tally of $139.5 million. The movie marked Cruise’s top opening weekend ever in 32 markets and Paramount’s biggest live-action bow in 18, led by  the U.K. ($19.4 million) and followed by France ($11.7 million) and Australia ($10.7 million). Top Gun 2 lands in South Korea next month.

The release of the long-awaited sequel to the iconic 1986 movie is a defining moment for box office recovery, which so far has been largely fueled by superhero fare propped up by males ages 18 to 34.

More than 70 percent of Top Gun 2 ‘s  audience was over the age of 25, including 55 percent over age 35, 38 percent over 45 and 18 percent over 55. Ticket buyers bestowed the film with a glowing A+ CinemaScore. And Imax and premium-format screens turned in a whopping 37 percent of the gross. Imax alone turned in a four-day Memorial Day record gross of $32.5 million, including $21 million in North America, and prompting CEO Richard Gelfond to gush in a statement: “If you thought movies were dead, go see Top Gun: Maverick and then let me know what you think. This film heralds the return of the summer blockbuster and is a catalyst that will accelerate demand for moviegoing like an F-18 breaking the sound barrier.” (Some of the film was shot with Imax cameras.)

Heading into the holiday weekend, Paramount tried to temper expectations, since tracking showed the $170 million film opening to $92 million-plus. Yet many pundits believe the critically acclaimed sequel could soar well north of $100 million domestically. But tracking — one of Hollywood’s favorite pastimes — has become fraught in the pandemic era. Exhibitors were especially bullish on the pic and were already thinking it could hit $125 million to $150 million.

The film’s release was delayed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cruise, a relentless promoter, went on a global marketing tour in recent weeks that saw him make stops at a world premiere in San Diego, the Cannes Film Festival , a Royal-sponsored screening in London and another premiere in Japan.

Cruise may be one of the world’s biggest movie stars, but his films — including the Mission: Impossible movies — have never sported the sort of mega-openings that superhero tentpoles or other franchise installments can enjoy (think Jurassic World or Fast & Furious ). Instead, his films can play and play.

To date, 2005’s War of the Worlds ranks as Cruise’s top domestic opening with a three-day gross of $64.9 million, followed by 2018’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout at $61.2 million, according to Comscore and not adjusted for inflation. The rest of his films have opened to less than $60 million.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise return as the ultra-gifted and confident Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

The film, which presently sports a stellar 97 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, co-stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly , Jon Hamm, Glen Powell and Ed Harris, while Val Kilmer also makes a brief appearance as “Iceman,” Maverick’s onetime nemesis-turned-pal. The film also features Lady Gaga’s ballad “Hold My Hand,” while the producing team includes Jerry Bruckheimer , who guided the 1986 film.

Looking to provide counter-programming, Disney released 20th Century’s The Bob’s Burgers Movie in more than 3,400 theaters in North America. The PG-13 pic, based on the popular TV show that’s a favorite of teen girls, posted a subdued three-day tally of $12.4 million and a projected $114.8 million for the four.

May 28, 8:15 a.m.:  Updated with revised numbers. May 29, 8:10 a.m.:  Updated with revised numbers. May 30, 7:30 a.m.:  Updated with revised numbers. May 31, 7:10 a.m.:  Updated with revised numbers.

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The 10 most disappointing movies of the past decade (& what happened).

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11 Surprising Movies That Were Massive Successes At The Box Office

Hollywood's 12 live-action anime adaptations, ranked worst to best, nicolas cage's forgotten thriller gets second life on netflix 11 years later.

There have been plenty of movies in the last decade which have arrived with huge fanfare but still failed spectacularly. A movie's hype and a movie's quality can often be two completely different things. Big franchises, big name actors and exciting premises don't necessarily add up to enjoyable movies, and audiences have been disappointed over and over again by big-budget flops.

Despite the incredible amounts of money that go into some Hollywood movies, they can still turn out badly. Audiences often feel assured of a certain level of quality before going into a movie based on some of the people involved, but this just makes the disappointment even more palpable when these movies fail to meet expectations. Whether they flopped at the box office or earned terrible reviews, some recent movies show that it's foolish to judge anything based on trailers and reputations.

Sometimes unexpected films will succeed at the box office. The films are often widely celebrated today, but their success wasn't easily predicted.

10 The Mummy (2017)

Tom cruise couldn't save this failed franchise starter.

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Rather than being a fresh homage to classic monster movies, The Mummy tries to evoke other, more interesting movies.

The Mummy was supposed to kickstart a new franchise for Universal, but the movie's failure meant that those plans were shelved. Universal's Dark Universe was an ambitious plan to bring back many classic movie monsters, such as Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. The franchise was canceled before it even got going, as critics and audiences shunned the remake.

The Mummy 's $400 million box office return would be a good start for many other movies, but it represented a loss after the huge marketing and distribution costs. While the financial returns were so-so, the critical response was nothing short of a disaster. Tom Cruise's usually bulletproof reputation took a big hit, as reviews criticized the movie's muddled plot and its derivative style. Rather than being a fresh homage to classic monster movies, The Mummy tries to evoke other, more interesting movies.

9 A Wrinkle In Time (2018)

A big-budget adaptation of a classic novel that missed the mark, a wrinkle in time.

A Wrinkle in Time is less than the sum of its parts. A great book, cast and director somehow added up to a mediocre final product.

A Wrinkle in Time is based on one of the most popular young adult adventure novels of all time. Madeleine L'Engle's story about a young girl on a magical adventure has endured for decades, but Disney's movie adaptation doesn't capture the spirit of the book. The cast features Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon, but it still bombed at the box office, with a reported loss of over $100 million.

A Wrinkle in Time never managed to tap into the magic of the book . Although there is no shortage of beautiful scenes, the story lacks any kind of personal touch. The broad, ambitious story still requires deep and thoughtful characterization, even if the themes are supposed to be universal. A Wrinkle in Time is less than the sum of its parts. A great book, cast and director somehow added up to a mediocre final product.

8 Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

The looney tunes legacy sequel was a shameless commercial for warner bros., space jam: a new legacy.

The main problem with A New Legacy isn't the humor or the weak celebrity cameos, but the overabundance of Warner Bros. properties.

The original Space Jam was a work of mad genius , pairing Michael Jordan with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes on a basketball-based adventure with shape-shifting aliens. It didn't really need a sequel, but another big-screen outing for the Looney Tunes was still an exciting prospect. Space Jam: A New Legacy features several NBA stars to accompany LeBron James, but the sequel was a hollow imitation of the original.

A New Legacy tries to copy the same formula that made the first movie such a success, but it lacks a lot of the humor that makes Michael Jordan's version a success. The main problem with A New Legacy isn't the humor or the weak celebrity cameos, but the overabundance of Warner Bros. properties, which makes the movie seem like an ill-advised commercial for the production company.

7 Jupiter Ascending (2015)

The wachowski sisters couldn't sprinkle their magic on this sci-fi flop, jupiter ascending.

The movie's budget was reportedly cut in half shortly before production began, and the script had to be quickly rewritten.

Jupiter Ascending was directed by the Wachowski sisters, the directing duo behind The Matrix. Understandably, there was a lot of hype for their next sci-fi epic, which promised a grand adventure across the solar system with a generous helping of action and romance thrown in for good measure. Jupiter Ascending failed to meet expectations, and any talk of a new franchise to follow The Matrix was quickly silenced.

Although its visual effects are stunning at times, Jupiter Ascending 's story is a confusing and dreary mess. The movie's budget was reportedly cut in half shortly before production began, and the script had to be quickly rewritten. This explains many of the problems with Jupiter Ascending, but Eddie Redmayne's bizarrely camp performance and the strange half-canine warriors might have hampered the movie even without these last-minute changes.

6 Mortal Engines (2018)

The young-adult movie should have had three sequels, mortal engines.

Mortal Engines probably came a few years too late to ride the wave of young adult book adaptations that thrived at the box office, like The Hunger Games and Divergent.

Based on the hugely popular series of young adult novels by Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines takes place in a steampunk-inspired dystopia where cities have been mounted on wheels, and they roam a barren wasteland preying on smaller towns. The Mortal Engines novels have sold millions of copies all over the world , but the long-awaited movie adaptation couldn't capitalize on this popularity, and it failed to recoup its budget at the box office.

Mortal Engines should have started an entire franchise, since there are four books in the series, but the movie's poor financial performance means that this is extremely unlikely. Mortal Engines probably came a few years too late to ride the wave of young adult book adaptations that thrived at the box office, like The Hunger Games and Divergent. It didn't help that the cast of Mortal Engines lacked recognizable stars, with Hugo Weaving as one notable exception.

5 Gemini Man (2019)

Ang lee and will smith should have been a dream pairing.

Ang Lee proved in 2019 that he was capable of misfiring, as his sci-fi thriller Gemini Man was a critical and commercial disappointment.

Ang Lee has a diverse filmography, including hits as varied as Brokeback Mountain, Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He proved in 2019 that he was capable of misfiring, as his sci-fi thriller Gemini Man was a critical and commercial disappointment. Gemini Man has Will Smith pulling a double shift as both a Marine nearing retirement and a younger clone trying to kill him.

The combination of Ang Lee and Will Smith was not enough to rescue Gemini Man from mediocrity. The movie was first conceived by screenwriter Darren Lemke in 1997, and it was stuck in development hell for decades as different directors and actors came and went. The technology finally caught up with Lemke's original vision, but a lackluster story meant that Gemini Man never fully explored its intriguing premise.

4 Amsterdam (2022)

A great ensemble cast are sadly wasted on a bumbling script.

The mystery-comedy also features Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy and Taylor Swift in smaller roles, but it was unable to convert this star power into box office success.

Amsterdam announced one of the most exciting ensemble casts in years, led by Margot Robbie, Christian Bale and John David Washington. The mystery-comedy also features Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy and Taylor Swift in smaller roles, but it was unable to convert this star power into box office success. Amsterdam made $31.2 million at the box office with a budget of $80 million, making it a huge failure.

Amsterdam is based on the true story of a conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, but most of the characters and a lot of the narrative is fictional. The plot ties itself in knots trying to reconcile its fictional elements with the facts of history, and it becomes harder to follow as more and more characters are introduced. Another problem is that the main trio of Robbie, Bale and Washington seem to be acting in three different movies .

3 Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

The star wars sequel trilogy ended in controversial fashion, star wars: episode ix- the rise of skywalker.

The Rise of Skywalker often seems like an apology for The Last Jedi , either backtracking or retconning most of Rian Johnson's biggest ideas.

The final chapter in Star Wars ' sequel trilogy was even more divisive than The Last Jedi . There's still a lot to like about The Rise of Skywalker, but its mixed response is representative of the divide that has grown throughout the fan base. Although it was a massive financial success, as any main series Star Wars movie is bound to be, The Rise of Skywalker sits at just 51% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi took the franchise in a bold new direction. It wasn't universally popular, but it showed a willingness to break with the same old stories and some of the more restrictive lore. The sequel often seems like an apology for this movie, either backtracking or retconning most of The Last Jedi 's biggest ideas. The Rise of Skywalker 's ending promises business as usual for the future of Star Wars, but recent TV shows have struggled with the next step.

2 Fantastic Four (2015)

Marvel's iconic superhero team still hasn't had a worthy movie, fantastic four (2015).

Fox reportedly took the movie out of director Josh Trank's hands for the extensive reshoots after they grew dissatisfied with his work, and Simon Kinberg took over. The result is a movie which seems cobbled together at the last minute.

The Fantastic Four deserve a truly great movie, but multiple iterations of the team have so far failed to produce one. The most recent attempt was 2015's Fantastic Four, which could be the worst of the lot. Despite an exciting young cast including Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller, Fantastic Four is a confused and dour superhero story which failed to meet expectations. It holds a remarkably low Rotten Tomatoes score of 9%.

The behind-the-scenes chaos of Fantastic Four has been well-documented. Fox reportedly took the movie out of director Josh Trank's hands for the extensive reshoots after they grew dissatisfied with his work, and Simon Kinberg took over. The result is a movie which seems cobbled together at the last minute. A new Fantastic Four reboot set for 2025 will have to reinject some of the color and fun into the team if it wants a better shot at success.

1 Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

Zack snyder's face-off movie promised a lot but delivered a little, batman v superman: dawn of justice.

Dawn of Justice enjoyed an outstanding opening weekend at the box office, but this ended with a historic dropoff in ticket sales.

The words "Batman v Superman" are enough to excite any fan of superhero movies, and the clash between two of the most iconic heroes of all even drew attention from people who might otherwise steer clear of the genre. Dawn of Justice enjoyed an outstanding opening weekend at the box office, but this ended with a historic dropoff in ticket sales, as fans left the theater disappointed.

Fans may have wanted a couple of hours of super-powered combat, but Zack Snyder had other ideas for the second movie in his "Snyderverse" trilogy. Dawn of Justice tries to set up DC's answer to the MCU with a few too many character introductions and teases for other stories which get in the way of the main action. The actual story of the conflict between Batman and Superman doesn't get the chance to develop into something interesting, and the action leaves a lot to be desired .

Box Office: John Krasinski’s ‘IF’ Debuts at No. 1 With Soft $35 Million

By Rebecca Rubin

Rebecca Rubin

Senior Film and Media Reporter

• Box Office: John Krasinski’s ‘IF’ Debuts at No. 1 With Soft $35 Million 11 hours ago
• ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Sets December 2025 Release, ‘M3GAN 2.0’ and ‘Black Phone 2’ Also Get New Dates 3 days ago
• Natasha Lyonne Joins Marvel’s ‘The Fantastic Four’ Cast 4 days ago

Not exactly the opening weekend that dreams are made of.

Popular on Variety

Krasinski wrote, directed, produced and stars in “IF,” which follows Brooklyn-dwelling neighbors Cal and Bea (Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming) with the ability to see other people’s imaginary friends (IF, for short). Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Emily Blunt, Bradley Cooper, Jon Stewart and George Clooney round out the star-studded voice cast of IFs. Reviews have been mixed (it has a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes), with  Variety’s  Tomris Laffly  calling it “a sweetly old-fashioned yet messily conjured children’s tale that sadly falls short of its thematic ambitions.”

“The early summer lineup is subdued. The industry is waiting for an over-performer to beat expectations and break out,” says David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “We continue to trail pre-pandemic box office levels by a wide margin, and comparisons are not going to get easier as we move into the heart of summer.”

Another newcomer, Lionsgate’s eerie horror film “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” opened in third place and beat expectations with $12 million from 2,856 theaters. The movie, which was targeting a start of $7 million to $9 million, cost $8.5 million so it’s well-positioned in its theatrical run. Though not terribly surprising for the genre, “The Strangers” was panned by audiences and critics, who saddled the film with a “C” CinemaScore and bleak 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Never mind reviews. Lionsgate intends to turn “The Strangers” into a standalone trilogy — separate from the studio’s 2008 thriller of the same name, starring Liv Tyler — with Chapters 2 and 3 to follow. The first installment centers on a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez), who are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin after their car breaks down in an eerie small town. Naturally, they are terrorized by masked strangers with seemingly no mercy or motive.

“[Chapter 1] is going to be profitable, and it gives the series something to build on,” says Gross.

Also new to theaters is the Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black,” which landed at No. 5 with a dismal $2.85 million from 2,010 venues. It’s a terrible start for any movie that’s playing nationwide, though Focus Features acquired the film in the U.S. and several international territories for less than $20 million. “Back to Black” has already grossed $37 million overseas.

Moviegoers were fonder than critics of the movie, which holds a “B+” CinemaScore and 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the R-rated “Back to Black,” an intimate look at the life and career of a destructive musical genius. Marisa Abela plays Amy Winehouse, the British singer-songwriter who catapulted to fame with hits like “Back to Black” and “Rehab” and died of alcohol poisoning in 2011 at age 27.

Meanwhile, last weekend’s champion “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” slid to second place with $26 million from 4,075 theaters, a decline of 55% from its debut. So far, the fourth chapter in the Disney and 20th Century’s “Apes” reboot franchise has generated $100.9 million domestically and $237 million globally.

Elsewhere, Amazon MGM’s documentary “The Blue Angels” captured a solid $1.325 million from 268 Imax screens globally — averaging $5,774 per location. J.J. Abrams and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Glen Powell produced the non-fiction film, which is only playing in Imax and chronicles a year in the cockpit with one of the world’s top aviator teams — the Navy and Marine Corps flight squadron — through their intense training and aerial touring show. 

Also in limited release, Neon’s comedy “Babes,” from director Pamela Adlon,” collected $171,321 from 12 venues — translating to $14,277 per location. Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau lead the film as two 30-something best friends who guide each other through pregnancy and motherhood. It’ll continue to expand in the coming weeks.

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