Box Office: ‘Mission: Impossible’ Crosses $500 Million Worldwide

Mission: Impossible – Fallout made more than $500 million worldwide after ticket sales were tallied on August 19, and it brought in about $180 million after 24 days of its North American release, according to Box Office Mojo. Mission: Impossible II was the quickest film to reach that milestone domestically but if Fallout’s popularity remains strong in the following weeks, it could steal that record for itself.

No one is surprised by the film’s success considering how well the last two movies of the franchise performed. Christopher McQuarrie, who directed Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, returned for the sixth film along with Tom Cruise as series protagonist Ethan Hunt. Aside from enjoying critical success, the film also opened to a franchise-record $61 million weekend and has kept increasing its success in the following weeks.

The film’s international audience is also about to give the box office numbers a big boost. Italy will be debuting the film by the end of August, along with China. The last two films in the franchise made over $100 million in China and many believe word of mouth alone could make Fallout a huge success there. Even if it only sees moderate sales, it could push the film’s profit over $600 million worldwide. Variety reported that Rogue Nation was “a solid performer in China with $135 million, by far the top international market for the film.”

Of course, Cruise is crucial for the success of Mission: Impossible overseas. However, the film also stars several other big names including Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Rebecca Ferguson. Henry Cavill portrays Superman in the DC Extended Universe and although those films aren’t as successful as the Mission: Impossible films have been worldwide, they did gross about $100 million in China alone.

So far, the highest grossing film in the franchise has been Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. It holds the record with $694.7 million. Can Fallout steal the crown? Even if it doesn’t, it’s still performing just as well as everyone thought it would. If it does break that record, that will just be icing on the cake.