I just saw on CNN.com that M:I3 had disappointing results this opening weekend at $48m. While it’s not exactly doing badly by any rational measure, it didn’t open as strongly as the previous two installments, looking to pull in 3 million fewer viewers than the previous two installments.
The article speculates that Tom Cruise’s interesting personal life has hurt his box office appeal or that the long interval between sequels cooled interest. I find the second explanation a bit of a stretch, as it’s going up against absolutely unspectacular films this weekend. The rest of the top 5: RV ($11.1m), An American Haunting ($6.4m), Stick It ($5.5m), United 93 ($5.2m).
Normally, I would’ve wanted to see it opening weekend but I’m choosing not to see the film until it comes out on DVD, if I see it at all. I don’t care about his appearance on Oprah and his odd love affair with Katie (sorry, Kate) Holmes or his belief in Scientology. I pretty much made up my mind not to see the movie when I saw how he behaved in response to South Park’s satire of Scientology and of Cruise himself. His threatened lawsuits and persistent rumors that he threatened Viacom if they played the episode again bothered me. Since I try to limit how much I go to the movies anyway, this movie is now on my wait-until-DVD list. Nice job, Cruise.