The title, translated into Italian, would be: The director of Dead Reckoning addresses an address at the Mission: Impossible 7 box office titled “Barbenheimer Topping.”

Summary

• Despite good reviews, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One failed at the box office, overshadowed by the power of Barbie and Oppenheimer.
• Director Christopher McQuarrie taps into the power of the Barbenheimer phenomenon by celebrating fellow directors Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig and expressing his admiration for their films and what they represent.
• The poor outcome of Mission: Impossible 7 can largely be attributed to poor timing and underestimation of the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Postponing the release date of the sequel could lead to better performance.

‘Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One’ director Christopher McQuarrie talks about Barbie and Oppenheimer’s negative impact on his film’s box office performance. Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in the seventh installment of the critically acclaimed long-running action movie. However, despite good reviews, the latest sequel ran into financial difficulties, and the hype surrounding the Barbenheimer phenomenon eventually overshadowed Hunt’s latest venture.

Now, in a recent interview with the Empire Spoiler Specials podcast, McQuarrie talks about the box office failure of Barbie and Oppenheimer’s Mission: Impossible Dead Calculation, Part One.

McQuarrie chooses not to focus on the financial constraints of his film, but instead expresses his enthusiasm for fellow directors Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan and what the success of their films means for cinema. Here is McQuarrie’s full comment when asked about the “tsunami” presented by Barbenheimer:

“I am very happy. We had this in mind when we went and bought tickets. That was true when I went on Twitter – my last Twitter post – and said, “Put on blue or go home.” I’m very happy for Margot (Robbie) who I think is an amazing talent and megastar. And I’m happy with the recognition the film is giving to that part of Margot that is a megastar. And I hope that the lessons learned from this are applicable. I am very happy for Greta.

“Chris Nolan… do you want to talk about getting between a rock and a hard place? You want to talk about a movie that’s three hours or more long, with an R rating and nude scenes that leave you “devastated.” This is a tough sale. This is an incredible marketing strategy. And he won. He hit like Babe Ruth and won. May God bless him. Congratulations. This is fantastic.

“And that’s a win for original films. This is a win for films that are not sequels. And in Oppenheimer’s case, drama. What films have always been. Tom and I look at each other all the time and say, ‘God, it’s about quality.'”

Why Barbenheimer defeated Dead Reckoning Part One

In terms of cinema, this year has been an interesting wake-up call for several big-budget action films. After the disappointing performances of Fast and Furious X and Indiana Jones and the Disc of Destiny, the performance of Mission: Impossible 7 strongly suggests that audiences may be hungry for something new rather than further chapters of long sagas.

At the same time, “Mission Impossible 7” was liked by those who watched it. Unlike Fast and Furious X and Indiana Jones 5, Cruise’s new film has not been controversial in terms of quality. In fact, Mission: Impossible 7’s poor performance can mostly be attributed to bad timing. The film ran for less than two weeks in IMAX, the series’ traditionally successful format, before Oppenheimer took over all theaters due to pre-existing arrangements.

The lack of premium widescreens was no doubt a major blow, but the enthusiasm for Barbie and Oppenheimer was far greater than anyone expected. Both films broke records and exceeded expectations. In hindsight, it’s clear that Paramount should have pushed back the release date of Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One and got a much more profitable run.

Source: Empire Spoiler Specials/Spotify podcast.