Although Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning raised some eyebrows with what was perceived as a low critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, especially in comparison to its immediate predecessors, the movie appears to have been embraced more wholeheartedly by audiences. The eighth film in the long-running action franchise debuted domestically this week, several days after it opened in a handful of overseas markets. It’s expected to deliver a franchise-best debut at the box office, which makes sense, considering that it has been strongly marketed as the final installment of the series.
Mission: Impossible 8 earned a strong A- CinemaScore from opening day audiences, which is at par Mission: Impossible III, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. However, it’s under the A grade earned by Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. The two lowest-rating Mission: Impossible movies, according to CinemaScore, are the first and second installments, both of which earned B+ grades.
Mission: Impossible 8 reunites star Tom Cruise with director Christopher McQuarrie, who has directed the last four installments of the series. Each of these movies has emerged as a critical and commercial success, although Dead Reckoning had a somewhat difficult time in theaters a couple of years ago. The movie was caught in the wake of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which blew past expectations and broke box office records. More importantly, Dead Reckoning was also denied the possibility of being screened on the premium IMAX formats. The movie earned a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, but concluded its run with around $570 million worldwide.
‘The Final Reckoning’ Is the Franchise’s Longest Installment

This was roughly $250 million less than Fallout’s franchise-topping $790 million haul. Mission: Impossible 8 premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and currently holds a “certified fresh” 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator’s audience rating stands at a superior 91%, which bodes well for its long-term prospects. In his review, Collider’s Ross Bonaime described the movie as “stuffed, convoluted, and ludicrous at times. But it’s also mostly a great send-off to this universe, a deserved celebration for everything this series has accomplished.” It has a long road ahead of it, considering its reported budget of $400 million, which became bloated because of the pandemic and strike-induced delays. Going by the rule of thumb, Mission: Impossible 8 would need to out-perform Fallout globally in order to break even. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.