Mission: Impossible — Fallout sets franchise high with $61.5 million opening

The actor’s new spy flick Mission: Impossible — Fallout is on track to earn an estimated $61.5 million in ticket sales at 4,386 theaters in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, easily topping the box office and scoring the highest opening yet for the enduring six-film franchise (not adjusting for inflation). Mission: Impossible II previously held that distinction, debuting with $57.8 million in 2000, while the most recent M:I movie, Rogue Nation, bowed to $55.5 million three years ago.

Fallout’s opening comes in toward the higher end of industry projections, which were in the range of $50 million to $65 million. The film, which cost $178 million to produce, received excellent reviews from critics, and moviegoers gave it an A CinemaScore. It could mark a much-needed hit for Paramount Pictures as the studio tries to regain its footing under new leadership. Overseas, in about 40 percent of the foreign marketplace, Fallout will add an estimated $92 million this weekend.

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie (who also handled Rogue Nation), Fallout finds super-spy Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his IMF colleagues trying to recover stolen plutonium after a mission gone awry. The cast also includes Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, and Angela Bassett.

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 7.9 percent year-to-date. Check out the July 27-29 figures below.

1. Mission: Impossible — Fallout — $61.5 million 

2. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — $15 million

3. The Equalizer 2 — $14 million 

4. Hotel Transylvania 3 — $12.3 million

5. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies — $10.5 million

6. Ant-Man and the Wasp 2 — $8.4 million

7. Incredibles 2 — $7.2 million

8. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — $6.8 million

9. Skyscraper — $5.4 million

10. The First Purge — $2.2 million