Fewer people chose to accept Tom Cruise's latest mission, a possible sign that the odd behavior of Hollywood's biggest star may have taken a toll on his box-office charm.

Paramount's "Mission: Impossible III" debuted with $48.025 million, a solid opening yet well below industry expectations and almost $10 million lower than the franchise's previous installment, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Industry analysts had expected the movie to open in the range of "Mission: Impossible II," which debuted with $57.8 million from Friday to Sunday over Memorial Day weekend in 2000, and Cruise's "War of the Worlds," which premiered with $64.9 million from Friday to Sunday over Fourth of July weekend last year.

Rob Moore, Paramount's head of worldwide marketing and distribution, said he did not believe Cruise's private life had any impact on "Mission: Impossible III," directed by "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams.

"I don't think so. There's no question it concerns us if the press is writing about things other than the movie," Moore said. "If people are writing about his personal life, then by definition, they're not writing about the movie."

Cruise's antics in the past year or so, publicity over his romance with Katie Holmes and the tabloid blitz regarding their daughter's birth in April may have left some movie-goers burned out or disenchanted with the actor.

Traditionally reserved about his private life, Cruise abruptly became an open book, jumping up and down on a couch while professing his love for Holmes in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and spouting his Scientology beliefs, including rants against psychiatry.

"Expectations were really high for this film. I think it's a good number, but people were obviously expecting better numbers," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "There's a lot to be said for how a star's public persona can affect a movie's box office."

"Mission: Impossible III" earned generally favorable reviews, some critics calling it the best in the franchise and many offering high praise for Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays Cruise's nemesis.

Along with potential Cruise backlash, the long six-year interval since "Mission: Impossible II" may have dulled audience appetites.

Head-to-head comparisons are difficult, since the previous "Mission: Impossible" movies and "War of the Worlds" opened over long holiday weekends, when Sunday grosses typically are much stronger than during a regular weekend.

Debuting in about 55 other countries, "Mission: Impossible III" took in $70 million, for a worldwide total of $118 million. Paramount noted that the new movie beat the $115 million worldwide debut of "Mission: Impossible II" in those same countries.

Factoring in higher ticket prices, the debut for "Mission: Impossible III" looks worse. About 7.3 million people saw the new movie, compared with 10.7 million over the opening weekend for "Mission: Impossible II" and 10.3 million for "Mission: Impossible," which opened with $45.4 million over Memorial Day weekend in 1996.

The weekend's other wide releases had fair to poor openings. Freestyle Releasing's "An American Haunting," starring Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland in a 19th century supernatural tale, debuted at No. 3 with $6.4 million.

New Line's family film "Hoot," adapted from Carl Hiaasen's novel about teenagers trying to save endangered owls, flopped with $3.4 million, tied for No. 9.

"Mission: Impossible III' led Hollywood to its seventh-straight weekend of rising revenues. The top-12 movies took in $99.4 million, up 27 percent compared to the same weekend last year, when "Kingdom of Heaven" led the box office with an anemic $19.6 million.

Weekend Box Office Estimates (U.S.)
This Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative
Gross Rlse
Wks # of
Theaters
1 - Mission: Impossible III Paramount Pictures $48,025,000 $48,025,000 1 4054
2 1 RV Sony Pictures Releasing $11,100,000 $31,006,000 2 3651
3 - An American Haunting Freestyle Releasing $6,380,000 $6,380,000 1 1668
4 3 Stick It Buena Vista Pictures Distribution $5,522,000 $17,977,000 2 2044
5 2 United 93 N/A $5,211,000 $20,056,000 2 1819
6 7 Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $4,000,000 $183,274,000 6 2426
7 4 Silent Hill TriStar Pictures $3,900,000 $40,805,000 3 2556
8 5 Scary Movie 4 The Weinstein Company , Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Dimension Films $3,763,000 $83,718,000 4 2537
9 - Hoot New Line Cinema $3,400,000 $3,400,000 1 3018
10 8 Akeelah and the Bee Lions Gate Releasing $3,400,000 $10,663,000 2 2195
11 6 The Sentinel 20th Century Fox Distribution $3,000,000 $30,850,000 3 2343
12 9 The Wild Walt Disney Pictures $2,577,000 $32,020,000 4 1930

Tom Cruise shot himself in the foot.

Sooner or later it was going to take a toll.

:eek: Personally, I'm shying away from any new Tom Cruise movies, mainly due to his questionable (and annoying) behavior over the past year or so...

Tom Cruise shot himself in the foot.
so when is he gonna aim for the head, so he can join his alien overlords?

Wait, M.I. 3 opened this weekend?

Wow. I heard nothing about that.

Would it have killed them to promote the thing?

;)

there's a shock

[/sarcastic]

Wait, M.I. 3 opened this weekend?

Wow. I heard nothing about that.

Would it have killed them to promote the thing?

;)
They did promote it, although not as heavily as War Of The Worlds.

I agree... the promotion was very minimal this time around. It seems as if Paramount didn't want to bank on Cruise's name plus this movie's opening weekened didn't have the "big event" feel that the first two had.

The movie brought in nearly $50 million, that's a hardly a flop.

The movie brought in nearly $50 million, that's a hardly a flop.

Exactly!! I was going to say, 50 million is still pretty damn good, and doesn't seem that far off from what they were expecting it to make. Honestly, I'm surprised it did as well as it did. I certainly have no interest in seeing it.

Good! (I know that sounds wrong) I am sorry, but I have had it with Tom Cruise! I think he's a bumbling idiot who doesn't know what he is talking about and who needs to shut his mouth!! Okay, that's my rant for today! **retreats back to corner** Ahem...sorry!

Glad to see I'm not the only one sick of Tom!

I'll go see it, because I'm a screenwriter in search of good stories. I'm very disappointed with his hyping of Scientology.

Maybe I should write a movie about a mind-controlling "religion" that wraps its slimy tentacles intp society's elite....

I'll go see it, because I'm a screenwriter in search of good stories. I'm very disappointed with his hyping of Scientology.

Maybe I should write a movie about a mind-controlling "religion" that wraps its slimy tentacles intp society's elite....

:rofl: Ha ha ha, that's a great idea!!! Can you imagine what Tom Cruise would do to try and stop you from making a movie like that? The guy's insane, and I wouldn't put anything past him. He'd probably get all his celebrity Scientology buddies to boycott, which would just make more people go out and see your film, since most of the world is repulsed at the very mention of Tom Cruise, and Scientology. :lol: Seriously though, I'd love to see a movie like that. You should do it!!!

:rofl: Ha ha ha, that's a great idea!!! Can you imagine what Tom Cruise would do to try and stop you from making a movie like that? The guy's insane, and I wouldn't put anything past him. He'd probably get all his celebrity Scientology buddies to boycott, which would just make more people go out and see your film, since most of the world is repulsed at the very mention of Tom Cruise, and Scientology. :lol: Seriously though, I'd love to see a movie like that. You should do it!!!I should!!!! I ought to ask my scriptwriting instructor about it, make it "loosely" based on Scientology, there's so much potential for a story! I've heard it said that making a movie based on religion is hard, because religion is a hard seller in Hollywood, people can get so polarized about it, but it's been touched on with some success ("The Passion of the Christ" and "The Da Vinci Code", but that's also because Mel Gibson and Ron Howard are big name directors). I think that Scientology is a different deal, I mean, don't you have to have been around centuries ago to have your beliefs classified as a religion? L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer who comes up with this weird thing in about the past fifty or so years. I just read some interesting things about this guy, he pretty much lied about his credentials. Scientology sounds too much like pop psychology with UFO business thrown in. When I was in Hollywood in February, I saw signs for an exhibit at one of their businesses claiming that psychiatry was "dangerous". :rolleyes:

so when is he gonna aim for the head, so he can join his alien overlords?


:lol:

You would think that making a movie of Aliens attacking Earth, would spin a negative image about Aliens.

The film did well overseas. 118 million is still pretty good for an opening weekend.

Since they did spend a fortune to promote this film (I was kidding in my previous post - I saw the MI 3 trailer about a thousand times on TV last week) this flick probably cost Paramount about 200 milllion bucks. But, since this is the Summer movie season and other big films are just around the corner (X Men 3) Cruise better hope MI 3 stays on top of the box office charts for a few more weeks, or else, they will consider this a "bomb."

If you can put aside his recent episodes of complete dumbassery, it's actually a pretty cool movie to go see.

Today's celebrities are losing more and more touch with reality.

I think the guy's an idiot, but I don't let any celebrities behavior ruin a movie for me. Especially Cruise, because he does make good movies unlike most annoying actors that don't.

I think the guy's an idiot, but I don't let any celebrities behavior ruin a movie for me. Especially Cruise, because he does make good movies unlike most annoying actors that don't.annoying actors who dont make good movies hmmm im getting a picture of leanordo de crapio in my mind help help i want the awful picture out of my mind HELP

Catch me if you can
Titanic
Gangs of New York
The Aviator
What's eating gilbert grape

You don't consider them good movies?

Catch me if you can
Titanic
Gangs of New York
The Aviator
What's eating gilbert grape

You don't consider them good movies?no sorry i dont whatever merits these movies have are over shadowed by the fact that he annoys the crap out of me no offense to fans