Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One & Two could continue a Tom Cruise box office record in 2023 and 2024 following Top Gun: Maverick
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One & Two has the opportunity to continue a Tom Cruise box office record that began in 2022. The next two Mission: Impossible films are confirmed to be a send-off for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and will end the character’s journey in the franchise. Both films were shot back-to-back due to their two-part nature and were once again written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 will release in July 2023 and June 2024 respectively and will hopefully continue the franchise’s outstanding quality established with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. This quality could extend to the franchise’s box office which peaked with the most recent installment, Mission: Impossible – Fallout. If the box office continues to improve with both parts of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, the films could extend a recent box office record for Tom Cruise that began with Top Gun: Maverick’s box office success.
Top Gun: Maverick Was Tom Cruise’s First $1 Billion Movie
The record in question was the surprising fact that Top Gun: Maverick was Cruise’s first-ever $1 billion movie. Despite being one of the biggest action stars, Cruise was yet to hit the milestone with any of his films before Top Gun: Maverick cruised to a $1.4 billion haul. Other than the Mission: Impossible franchise, Cruise’s highest-grossing film came in 2005 with Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. This means that Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 could potentially allow Cruise to secure a box office record leaping off of Top Gun: Maverick’s $1 billion+ worldwide gross.
Mission Impossible 7 & 8 Could Secure Cruise’s $1 Billion Streak
With Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One releasing in 2023 and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two coming in 2024, Tom Cruise could go from having no $1 billion movies to having three in three years. As mentioned, Top Gun: Maverick is Cruise’s highest-grossing film, yet Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation make up the second, third, and fourth spots respectively. The films earned a worldwide total of $787 million, $694 million, and $688 million respectively.
If Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One can earn over $1 billion, it sets Cruise on his way to earning three $1 billion movies in three years. As the two-part event is confirmed to be Cruise’s last appearance in the franchise, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout saw the franchise’s highest gross yet, M:I 7 could improve on this and hit the milestone. If it does so, Mission: Impossible 8 beating or equaling this would give Cruise this record. Whether both Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One & Two hit this milestone remains to be seen, though it would be a fantastic trend of box office returns for one of Hollywood’s most committed action stars.
