Hollywood's Sequel Slump: 'Indy 5' And 'Mission: Impossible' Looking To Lose Big At The Box Office

While the summer has seen massive successes in the likes of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ things aren’t looking too hot for other blockbusters as both ‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ are poised to lose upwards of $100 million.

Both franchises have previously never failed to surpass the budget with their box office earnings, making the loss for both a historic one. Things would look good for them based on raw numbers as ‘Mission: Impossible’ has made over $523 million in theaters so far while ‘Indiana Jones’ has made $375 million, but there's a catch.

Even with these massive gross profits, once the cost of production and marketing is considered, things look far more bleak for the long-time franchises. According to Fox Business, both movies cost around $300 million to produce with at least another $100 million used to promote the films.

According to Shawn Robbins, a chief analyst at Boxoffice Pro, the “movies would have been a lot more economical if it weren’t for COVID. But even if that meant their budgets were inflated, at the end of the day, these movies cost what they cost and performed how they performed.”

While things look bleak, with Indy only managing to break even, it’s estimated that if the Tom Cruise-led film manages to surpass $600 million globally, something that it isn’t too ridiculously far from, it will be able to break even. That would include whenever it makes it to streaming services and TV movie rentals. 

Meanwhile, ‘Sound of Freedom,’ which wasn't made by a big Hollywood studio, has managed to surpass Indy 5 in domestic sales, as previously reported by the DC Enquirer. Unlike the Disney film, the Angel Studios film is not showing internationally, making the immense $177 million earned according to Box Office Mojo all the more impressive.

So the question to be asked is where did the newest ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ go wrong? Did they spend too much on the film making it nearly impossible for them to break even? Did the product itself end up being lackluster, leading to the disappointing results themselves? Did COVID instantly spell doom for these movies?

No one answer can summarize what went wrong with Hollywood's latest blunders, but ultimately, things are set in stone now. Both movies failed to live up to studio expectations and are looking to cost large amounts of cash for their failures.