There’s a major movie face-off happening in July, and it isn’t the already well-talked-about “Oppenheimer” vs. “Barbie” same-weekend release on the 21st.
Rather it’s “Oppenheimer” vs. “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”. A new report at Puck News alleges that ‘Mission’ star and producer Tom Cruise is not happy with the situation regarding IMAX screens for his film.
Boasting a budget of nearly $300 million, the new “Mission: Impossible” opens in cinemas everywhere on Wednesday, July 12th, including booking most of the IMAX screens in North America and other territories.
Then, nine days later, on July 21st, Christopher Nolan’s $100 million budgeted “Oppenheimer” is released and has locked basically all the IMAX screens in North America and other territories for three full weeks.
As a result, the seventh ‘Mission’ is getting bumped after just over one week. The site’s sources claim Cruise has been “complaining loudly to Paramount executives and others” about the IMAX situation.
It’s a tricky scenario. On the one hand, Nolan’s film is a big advertisement in and of itself for IMAX as it was entirely shot in the format, and Nolan has been very loyal to the brand. In addition, Nolan is famously very strict terms about how his theatrical releases are handled. His name still has pull with audiences, even with his last film “Tenet” disappointing.
On the other there’s Cruise – the man who ‘saved cinema’ according to Spielberg. He’s also strict about the handling of his theatrical releases and his “Top Gun: Maverick” last year grossed $110 million in IMAX theaters alone as part of its massive $1.49 billion global box-office haul.
Cruise could also fairly argue for his film from a business standpoint as the new ‘Mission’ will likely outperform “Oppenheimer” at the box-office – especially with its drier subject matter and R rating, which could limit the audience. With its budget nearly three times the size, the Cruise vehicle will need every screen it can get to reach profit.
The report also says Cruise has shifted his efforts to secure as many non-IMAX P.L.F. screens as he can, showing the film to exhibitors in an effort to convince them to switch their plans from “Oppenheimer” or “Barbie”.
They even say Cruise is personally calling exhibition and studio executives asking rivals to relinquish P.L.F.s or even move their release dates for the health of the whole theatrical business. How this will all turn out isn’t clear just yet.
