That’ll teach ‘em to count Tom Cruise out. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise, this weekend became the highest-grossing film of the series with a worldwide gross of $571 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The movie is on track to become Cruise’s highest grossing movie ever.
That record is held by War of the Worlds, which earned $592 million. Box Office Mojo, which tracks film finance numbers, says Ghost Protocol is “now on pace to easily pass” that 2005 Steven Spielberg sci-fi movie.
Ghost Protocol, the first live-action feature from Brad Bird, earned an estimated $25 million this weekend from 63 markets. Most of the money came from China, where the movie opened with a gross of $12.7 million. That brings the movie’s overseas total to $369 million. It has earned $202.6 million domestically since it opened in the U.S. on Dec. 16..
Mission: Impossible 2 previously was the highest grossing movie of the Mission: Impossible series. It grossed $546.4 million worldwide in 2000.
Eric Harrison has reported on film and reviewed movies for the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle, where he was chief film critic for five years. He has won awards for his film criticism and reporting. He teaches journalism at Texas Southern University in Houston. 