Mission Impossible: Fallout tops international box office again

With about US$35 million worth of ticket sales, the sixth instalment of Paramount Pictures’ stunt-loaded Mission Impossible has overtaken Disney’s Winnie the Pooh at which opened with a modest $25 million at the North American box office to lead all films for the second straight week. In New Zealand, Mission: Impossible – Fallout grossed about $1.2 million over 4 days to top the box office chart which is nearly twice the amount spent moviegoers to see Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, the second-place candidate with $648,501.

On Sunday, Mission Impossible, downplaying the Disney’s recent release (Christopher Robins) Black Panther became the third film to ever gross over $700 million domestically. Only Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens have previously accomplished that. In just one year, each of three films from Paramount Picture studio (Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and, as of this week, Incredibles 2) has made $1 billion worldwide.

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Meanwhile, Disney’s Christopher Robin: Winnie the Pooh, opening in New Zealand on September 20, has been denied a release in China, the world’s second-largest film market. Reports suggest that the banning is a reaction to how internet users have been using Winnie the Pooh memes to parody Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

In just weeks after its release, Mission Impossible – Fallout has, so far, made US$124.5 million in the United States and US$205 million internationally. The summer box office is experiencing a spike, according to comScore. “As we head into what is almost always the slowest month at the summer box office, we have some nice momentum going,’’ said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “With a 10.6 percent increase over the summer last year, we’re going to maintain a solid advantage when we get to the end of the month.’’

However, unlike Mission Impossible, comedy seems to not be recording relatively massive success as the genre continues to struggle at the box office. As at four days after its release, Lionsgate’s R-rated action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon and directed by Susanna Fogel, debuted in third place with $12.4 million.