The Jaw-Dropping VOD Strategy That Backfired: How Mission: Impossible 7 Lost Its Studio Millions
Despite Mission: Impossible 7's impressive debut at #1, the film's VOD strategy proved costly for the studio Find out why this Tom Cruise sequel can't seem to catch a break
Summary
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was released in theaters on July 12 and recently landed on VOD platforms on October 10, topping the charts.
The film's performance suffered due to a longer exclusive theatrical release, as a recent report indicates profits only amounted to $2 million within the past month. Capitalizing on audience interest and potentially generating higher revenue could have been achieved by releasing the movie earlier on VOD at a premium price.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is currently topping the VOD charts, but a recent report suggests that the studio's digital release strategy may have resulted in financial losses. Starring Tom Cruise reprising his role as Ethan Hunt, the seventh installment in this enduring action franchise follows Hunt's mission to combat a renegade AI menace. Despite its theatrical release on July 12, the film did not achieve the anticipated box office success and was eventually made available digitally on October 10.
Dead Reckoning Part One's Box Office Explained
IndieWire's recent report suggests that the delayed streaming release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One might have been more detrimental than beneficial. Despite hopes of boosting box office earnings, which only amounted to around $2 million in the past month, the decision to postpone the film's VOD release potentially hindered its potential for greater revenue. Paramount and Cruise could have maximized their earnings by releasing the movie at a more current time, potentially commanding a higher price and benefiting from a larger portion of the VOD revenue.
Located at about $567 million worldwide, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's box office earnings are underwhelming compared to the last three films in the franchise, which all surpassed $680 million (with Fallout leading at $786.6 million). However, due to its budget, the movie's performance at the box office has been quite disastrous.
During the early stages of Mission: Impossible 7's production, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant disruption, leading to the pause of all Hollywood productions. Despite implementing expensive safety measures, the sequel faced multiple shutdowns before finally completing filming. Additionally, a sudden decision to include a major submarine sequence originally intended for the next movie resulted in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's budget skyrocketing to a staggering $290 million.
Not only did Mission: Impossible 7 face the challenge of achieving success with such a high budget, but its release date also posed a disadvantage. The movie premiered in theaters just a week before the highly anticipated films Barbie and Oppenheimer. Consequently, the overwhelming dominance of Barbenheimer overshadowed the Cruise-led flick. Although Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is performing well on VOD platforms, it will be intriguing to witness the lessons applied to the release of its follow-up film next summer.
Source: IndieWire
