“Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” opens nationwide on the 21st, but it’s being released in 400 IMAX theaters five days earlier on the 16th. I can’t remember the last time a big budget movie opened in just a limited number of screens and then expanded wide a few days later.
So how much money will “M:I4” make opening weekend? Considering the cost of IMAX tickets and that it won’t be sharing the IMAX spotlight those days with “Happy Feet Two” (which bombed) I’m predicting between $10 and $12 million. After all Cruise fans and fans of the franchise will want to see this film as soon as possible, no matter what it costs (at least that’s what Paramount is counting on). And there’s the added bonus of the “Dark Knight Rises” prologue. On the flip side, it will be going up against “Sherlock Holmes 2” and “Alvin 3”.
Then a few days later (also the 21st), “The Adventures of Tintin” opens in IMAX 3D. This is another Paramount film, so will “MI4” have to share the IMAX screen with “Tintin”? If so that will hurt it’s box office.
This could have been avoided if the IMAX preview (or the wide release) had been this weekend instead.