Tom Cruise Steers Sixth ‘Mission: Impossible’ to Box Office Win

(Bloomberg) -- The sixth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” action films starring Tom Cruise posted the biggest debut.

Paramount Pictures’ “Fallout” opened as the No. 1 weekend movie, collecting an estimated $61.2 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, researcher ComScore Inc. said in a email Monday. That easily topped “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies,” an animated picture from Warner Bros., which placed fifth with $10.4 million in ticket sales in its debut.

The “Mission: Impossible” franchise is one of Paramount Pictures’ most popular offerings and adds to a successful movie season for exhibitors. The film production had a budget of $178 million and was expected to debut at more than $65 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

In the latest film from Viacom Inc.’s movie division, Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt with his IMF crew. This time the secret agent must find and defuse a nuclear bomb that his old foe Solomon Lane has procured. The action plays out across cities like Paris, London and Belfast. Critics almost universally recommended the movie, according to review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.

The previous top debut in the series was “Mission: Impossible II” at $57.8 million, Box Office Mojo said. The first five films have produced $2.79 billion in global ticket sales.

The other new wide release, “Teen Titans Go!” fell short of the $17.5 million in domestic weekend sales predicted by analysts at Box Office Pro. The film from AT&T Inc.’s Warner Bros. had a production budget of $10 million, before marketing costs, according to Box Office Mojo.

Based on DC Comics superheroes, the movie is a tongue-in-cheek tale in a child-friendly picture. Led by side-kick Robin, the Teen Titans try to copy the popular grownup superheroes and get their own deal for spinoffs and origin movies.

But their plans are sent off course by a maniacal super villain. Nicolas Cage and Will Arnett supply a couple of the voices. RottenTomatoes estimated 91 percent of critics recommended the movie.

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