And the trend continues: U.S. box office is apparently much lower than expected, despite rave reviews and the Cruise-marketing-overload.
The next Bond will have to adjust and work overtime.
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The next Bond movie WILL NOT have a 300 million dollar budget. It will be 150 million or less. I say go less. John Wick 4 only cost 100 million and it was phenomenal. Pull a Dr. No or You Only Live Twice and set the majority of the film in one country.
With the writers/actors strike Iām curious if Dead Reckoning Part 2 comes out next summer.
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Given how much McQuarrie writes as they go, it might not be as harmful to Mission Impossible as it will be to other productions.
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I understand a big part of the shoot has been completed, with a planned hiatus during the last weeks for the promotion of Part One - only now, with the strike prohibiting the start of phase 2 of the shoot, it will be really up to the studios when production on anything can resume.
With the studios wishing to drag out the writersĀ“ strike (as one could read on deadline.com) until October with NO PROPOSAL planned in between, in order to let many writers go bankrupt and lose their houses/appartments, to have them at the mercy of any proposal, I would be surprised if the actors will cave in early.
The studios might be a bit more forthcoming due to the solidarity of writers AND actors, but I wouldnāt be surprised if the studios WANT to remain ice cold and show they can outlast these pesky creative peasants.
So, if movie production cannot resume before October or even the end of the year (at some point the studios need the actors to promote films for award season), it is quite possible that the finishing of DEAD RECKONING PART 2 will be impossible for a summer 2024 release.
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Nightfire and Everything or Nothing were also immensely popular. Brosnan had at least three widely popular and acclaimed games.
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Nobody can promote a movie more than Cruise. Still, not 90 million but 78. Paramount is hoping for the movie to collect in the following weeks as Cruise pictures usually have legs. But it is proof again that demographics are a deciding factor - and they will be for Bond.
I expect āBarbieā to be the biggest and fastest performer this summer, simply because the younger audience will rush to see it. And āOppenheimerā, despite probably being the best film of the summer or even the year, will struggle, due to its serious content and the length prohibiting more showings.
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Iām doing my part at an afternoon matinee later today.
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Whet my appetite watching Octopussy this afternoon (what a damn fine romp it is!) and off to the cinema for MI tonight.
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Itās beaten Mi2ās 5 day record, so it seems the Cruise films run like he does seems to be playing out.
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Unless you take into account inflation, in which case MI7 underperformed MI2 by 44% 
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And if 90 million were expectedā¦
But I think overseas is where action pics make most of their money anyway.
And Part Two will be there, no matter what.
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It is generally underperforming Mi2 (apparently they all did) but Paramount are seemingly hopeful that this will have better legs than any other blockbuster has had this year with all but (I think) Guardians of the Galaxy vol3 having a really sharp drop.
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Well Iām back home from seeing it and it all just left me feeling ratherā¦ flat and underwhelmed. Stunt work was, of course, technically impressive in its authenticity due to Cruise being clinically insane, but it equally seemed to lack originality: base jumping 1977, old yellow banger chase 1981, rooftop train fight 1983 etc. if ithey were meant as homages, it was almost as over baked as DAD. I also found the narrative rather plodding, the character development rather forced. I would rate it as mid table MI mediocrity behind Rogue Nation, Fallout and Ghost Protocol. 7 films in, it all felt like their ideas tank was running on emptyā¦ which makes Bond still going strong with fresh ideas and surprises (yes Iām looking at you daughter and death scene!) and counting after 25 films all the more impressive. Hopefully Barbie will be better.
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Spoiler tags, pleaseā¦ 
Apologies, I didnāt think. How do I insert spoiler tags? In the meantime the offending line has been removed.
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Click on the little cog wheel thingie and then āhide detailsā
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I saw it today with 2 reasonable novices when it comes to spy thriller movies and total MI novices (virtually no 007 experience) and we ALL loved it. Was it perfect? No, of course not. Was it a hell of a good big cinema experience? Absolutely! Nobody can match Cruise in full entertainment mode!
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I came up with my MI rankings this morning and placed it mid table:
- RN
- GP
- F
- DR1
- MI
- MI3
- MI2
This is by no means a bad thing as, aside from MI2, I thoroughly enjoy and think very highly of them all.
Seven films in, same number as Moore Bond films and the trajectories between MI and the Moore era are fairly similar - a grittier opening film, a somewhat devisive and tonally unsure second entry before finding its identity around the third film and becoming comfortable and consistent - you know what to expect, and if you are a fan, chances are youāll leave happy.
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I think this is a sad development for quality blockbuster filmmaking. And all those analysts who gleefully commented on the lackluster box office of Indiana Jones (too old, nobody cares, no wonder when the movieās bad, horrible reviews) now wake up to the reality that theater attendance is not about quality filmmaking, perfect marketing or release dates.
Itās about this flimsy thing called zeitgeist. And at a certain age people will stay home and wait for the streaming.
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The release date for which they for some reason announced before the movie came out in theaters - Oct 10
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