What Went Wrong:
Mission: Impossible III
By Shalimar Sahota
July 7, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This is a bit of an unusual What Went Wrong, for while one can find a few faults in Mission: Impossible III, it generally comes across as a solid summer blockbuster. It’s a good film that appeared to have everything going for it. A great cast, a full-on marketing blitz (maybe too much marketing), with worldwide premieres; even the reviews were better than the previous film.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from leading the dangerous missions at IMF, instead training new recruits. He is also engaged and looking to settle down with his fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse, who believes that he works for the department of transport. Hunt is lured back into action after one of his own trainees, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), is captured when investigating weapons dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). After the mission goes wrong, Hunt and his team of IMF agents; Luther (Ving Rhames), Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Zhen (Maggie Q), prepare themselves to capture Davian at the Vatican City.
The film begins with an absolutely brilliant opening, showing audiences a sequence that actually takes place during the final act. Hunt and Julia are both strapped to chairs, facing each other. Davian has a gun pointed at Julia, and if after the count of ten Hunt doesn’t tell him the location of the Rabbit’s Foot, he’ll shoot Julia (“You don’t think I’ll do it?”). As the best scene in the film, positioning it at the start is both smart and misjudged. Given the impact it has, expectations are raised, but the rest of the film just doesn’t live up to those three and a half minutes… the battle on the bridge comes close, though.
The film stays afloat with a somewhat weak MacGuffin – the Rabbit's Foot. Neither the audience nor the characters ever really find out what it is, what it’s for, or why Owen Davian wants it so badly. Believed to be a codename for a weapon (it has a Biohazard logo on it), IMF agent Benji (Simon Pegg) assumes that if someone is willing to spend $850 million on it, then it is “the Anti-God,” some kind of “unstoppable force of destructive power.” But he’s not so sure himself. Not knowing what the Rabbit’s Foot is means that we feel a bit left out, and we never really know what’s at stake.
The film’s action and excitement relies on a collection of race against time scenarios, some more exciting than others. “It’ll need 30 seconds,” says Zhen, when it comes to charging a defibrillator.
“We have two hours before they kill my wife,” says Hunt, before going ahead with his fulcrum plan to swing from one building to another.
“You only had five seconds left, do you realise that,” says Davian, after Hunt calls to explain that he has the Rabbit’s Foot.
Best of all, Davian tells Hunt that he has, “maybe four minutes left,” after activating the explosive charge in his head.
Incidents occurring off screen are believed to have had an effect on the overall performance of the film, as Tom Cruise slowly became a figure of media mockery. It most likely began in April 2005, just over a year before Mission: Impossible III was released, when Cruise was promoting Paramount’s War of the Worlds.
An interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel had Cruise revealing that Scientology ministers were on the set of War of the Worlds, and that they “were there to help the sick and injured.” He then went as far as saying, “I’m a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs.”
On May 23, 2005, Cruise appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, displaying a public show of affection for his then girlfriend Katie Holmes, which involved him jumping on a couch. A few days later the show Access Hollywood ran an interview with Cruise, where he explained how Scientology considers modern psychiatry and medications to be harmful, and then criticised those taking anti-depressant drugs. In particular he spoke of his disappointment that Brooke Shields took anti-depressants to overcome post-natal depression after the birth of her first child, and then asked, “Where has her career gone?” Cruise did later apologise to Shields and even invited her to his wedding, but his remarks caused a major upset, particularly amongst his female fans.
On June 1, 2005, an article in the New York Times reported that Tom Cruise is “puzzling associates and members of the public with his behavior” Apparently, Paramount was undecided on whether or not to go ahead with Mission: Impossible III, because of the behavior of its lead star. The article also reported that, “discussion among agents, producers, studio executives and other actors has been focused on whether Hollywood's biggest box office star was doing long-term harm to his career.”
Then, a few days before War of the Worlds opened, Cruise was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show, where he was questioned about his recent comments to Brooke Shields. Cruise told Lauer, “You don’t know the history of psychiatry, I do.” He did later apologise to Lauer when he was back on the Today Show a couple of years later to promote Valkyrie, saying that he “came across as arrogant.”
It was all good for the press, but the following year, in March 2006, Cruise’s romance with Katie Holmes won them both a Razzie award for Most Tiresome Tabloid Target.
Mission: Impossible III opened on May 5, 2006 at an ultra wide 4,054 venues. The first weekend of May has often been considered a prime spot to open a summer blockbuster. It reached #1 with an opening weekend gross of $47.7 million. A good number, but one can’t help but draw comparisons, taking into account that the first Mission: Impossible opened to $45.4 million (back in 1996), and the second film opened to $57.8 million in 2000. Many were expecting the film to open above $50 million, with some even projecting an opening as high as $70 million.
It finished its run at the US box office with $134 million, the lowest of the trilogy, for the first film earned $180.9 million, and the second film $215.4 million. Its overall worldwide box office stands at $397.8 million. Mission: Impossible finished with $457.6 million worldwide, while Mission: Impossible II accomplished an even higher $546.3 million worldwide. It was clear that audiences had left the franchise.
In August 2006, Sumner Redstone, owner of Viacom (which comprises Paramount Pictures), cut ties with the production company Cruise/Wagner Productions, after he decided not to renew their contract with the studio. Since the first Mission: Impossible film, Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, had previously released all their films through Paramount.
In an interview with Vanity Fair it appeared that Redstone’s wife, Paula Redstone, most likely influenced him after she heard Cruise’s comments regarding Brooke Shields. “Paula, like women everywhere, had come to hate him,” said Redstone. “The truth of the matter is, I did listen to her, but I make business decisions myself.” Redstone described how Cruise’s behavior was, “entirely unacceptable to [my wife,] Paula, and to the rest of the world. He didn't just turn one [woman] off. He turned off all women, and a lot of men. He was embarrassing the studio. And he was costing us a lot of money. We felt he cost us $100, $150 million on Mission: Impossible III. It was the best picture of the three, and it did the worst.”
Cruise has also most likely damaged his career, for he has not had a film open to Mission: Impossible levels. Valkyrie opened to $21 million back in 2008, while the 2010 summer blockbuster Knight and Day disappointed by opening to $20.1 million. Ironically, Cruise’s next film is Mission: Impossible IV - Ghost Protocol. He is starring and producing, but his production company Cruise/Wagner Productions has nothing to do with the film.
I viewed Mission: Impossible III on its opening day. My local multiplex had three prints of the film. I was a bit surprised that the screening I attended (in a large 400+ seat auditorium) was largely empty. I find myself agreeing with Redstone’s comments, in that the film is the best of the trilogy, even if only by a small margin. However, Cruise’s behavior during the last few years appears to have cost him and his films dearly. The true test of whether he can still bring in an audience will be answered with the release of Mission: Impossible IV.