Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may not have been the most successful entry in the long-running action franchise, but the film has still performed fairly well at the box office considering its record-breaking budget. The Final Reckoning was reportedly made for $400 million, making it one of the most expensive action movies ever.

The current worldwide gross for The Final Reckoning sits at $586 million, which is still an impressive intake despite the movie’s inability to break even on its enormous budget. It had the highest opening weekend of the entire Mission: Impossible franchise, but it remains only the fourth-highest total gross of the series (via Box Office Mojo).

Incidentally, The Final Reckoning is only $71,000 away from overtaking another project that could have starred Tom Cruise if the cards had fallen slightly differently: 2008’s Iron Man. The actor was in contention to play Tony Stark before Robert Downey Jr. eventually landed the role, and the movie remains one of the biggest what-ifs of Cruise’s career.

What The Final Reckoning’s Box Office Means For The Franchise

The Movie Has Performed Well Considering Its Budget

Even though The Final Reckoning is close to overcoming a box-office giant like Iron Man, it’s still very unlikely that this commercial success will convince Paramount to invest in another Mission: Impossible sequel. There’s been lots of discussion online about whether The Final Reckoning should really be the last Mission: Impossible, and this impressive box office performance has seemingly convinced many that it shouldn’t be.

However, The Final Reckoning‘s $586 million worldwide gross still doesn’t even come close to breaking even for the project. The typical rule of thumb is that a movie needs to make two and a half times its budget to account for marketing, production, and distribution costs, meaning The Final Reckoning would have needed close to $1 billion to even turn a profit.

Our Take On The Final Reckoning’s Box Office Performance

The Movie Is A Fitting End For Mission: Impossible

The news that The Final Reckoning is steadily approaching Iron Man‘s impressive box-office performance is also an important reminder to always consider a film’s total gross in relation to its individual expectations. While Iron Man was viewed as a staggering success and kick-started a multi-billion-dollar cinematic franchise, The Final Reckoning is merely the fourth-highest grossing within its series.

This is both a powerful illustration of just how successful the Mission: Impossible franchise has been over the years and a necessary confirmation that The Final Reckoning‘s record-breaking box office run shouldn’t be overblown into evidence for another action-packed sequel. Iron Man had much lower expectations to contend with, and the real MCU money can be found in the later installments.

Source: Box Office Mojo