The era of big stars has recently come to an end. The days in which Tom Cruise’s name alone on the marquee was enough to draw audiences are over. That’s what we were hearing only a few months ago but, as often happens, reports of those demises were largely premature. Rogue Nation, the fifth installment of the Mission: Impossible series, had a North American debut of $56 million, which means it grossed $15 million above the original projections and also that this is the third largest opening of Cruise’s career, after War of the Worlds in 2004 and Mission: Impossible II in 2000. Then we need to add the figures from overseas markets: 40 of them, good for another $65 million and a $120 million global debut. The champion was South Korea, with $17 million, followed by Mexico, the UK, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In 27 of those 40 countries, Rogue Nation was the biggest opening ever for a Tom Cruise film. His brand, in other words, is still very much alive and with the film division of internet giant Alibaba partially financing the film. China where the movie will open on September 8, is most likely going to be huge. No wonder that both the superstar and Paramount are already talking about a Mission Impossible 6, which may start shooting a year from now.
 
The fifth installment of the Mission Impossible series was directed by Chris McQuarrie and generated very favorable reviews and excellent buzz. It also stars Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson and sees Ethan Hunt, our hero, facing off against an international crime syndicate. It was supposed to open on Christmas Day, but in order to avoid competing with the upcoming installments from Star Wars and James Bond the release date was moved backwards.  Rogue Nation over-performed. On the other hand Vacation, a sequel to National Lampoon’s Vacation starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann and Chris Hemsworth (with Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo making cameos) disappointed and ended up with a debut of just $15 million. It took second place, followed by several holdovers. On its third weekend, Marvel’s Ant-Man took $12.5 million, for a $132 million domestic total, whereas its global total is fast approaching the $300 million mark. Minions domestic total was close, but on its fourth week the Despicable Me spinoff has reached a gigantic global total of $855 million. To round up the top five in the U.S. market, next was Adam Sandler’s Pixels, which added just over $10 million and has reached a disappointing 10 days total of $45 million. Southpaw and Paper Towns also registered steep declines.
 
Inside Out added $4.5 million domestically, but the global total is now over $600. The biggest fans of the thought-provoking and critically acclaimed animated movie so far have been the Mexicans ($30 million), followed by Koreans ($27 million) and the Brits, who have contributed $26.6 million to the Pixar film in just 10 days. And there are still several major markets yet to open, including China, Italy and Germany.
 
Next weekend we will witness the debut of The Fantastic Four reboot and of Ricki and the Flash, with Meryl Streep again surprising her many admirers by playing the role of an aging female rock star. Then on August 14 will debut Warner’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Universal’s Straight Outta Compton, F. Gary Gray’s take on the beginnings of rap music and on the rise and fall of Ice Cube’s and Dr. Dre’s N.W.A. After that Hollywood’s Summer will be over, a month in advance of the official start of the Fall season. A good Summer, at least dollar-wise: with $3.6 billion so far, the box office is 12.5 % ahead of 2014.
Lorenzo Soria