Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” stayed at the top of the China box office for a second weekend in a row. The movie made $9.8 million from June 6–8, according to Artisan Gateway. It has now earned $46.9 million in China.
Imax made up $1.7 million of the total, bringing its China total to $8.7 million. The Chinese animated movie “Endless Journey of Love” came in second place. It added $4.2 million in its second weekend.
The film is set in 1930s China and is about a village girl named Qian Xiao who can control time. This makes powerful forces want to target her. As she finds out the city’s secrets, she faces danger and the price of her power.
The movie has made $16.7 million so far. “Ballerina,” an action movie that is a spinoff from the “John Wick” series, opened in third place with $2.9 million. It stars Ana de Armas as an assassin seeking revenge in the criminal world.
“Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Art World Tales” was fourth with $2.2 million. Its total is now $12.1 million. In the movie, Doraemon and his friends go into the world of paintings and have a big adventure.
Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” rounded out the top five with $2.1 million. The live-action remake of the 2002 animated movie has made $22.4 million in China since it came out on May 23. China’s weekend box office added up to $26 million.
This is a big drop from the $58.2 million the weekend before. The total for the year so far is $3.88 billion. This is 26.3% more than the same time in 2024.
Christopher McQuarrie, the director of the recent “Mission: Impossible” movies, talked about big character deaths, the possible end of the series, and what might come next for the action-packed franchise. “If you don’t give in to how hard it is to make a ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie, it will crush you,” McQuarrie said. “You just have to put your ego aside and push yourself as much as you can technically.”
McQuarrie used to be a movie theater security guard in 1996 when he was 27.
the franchise’s enduring success in China
His hit movie “The Usual Suspects” launched his successful career. This led to him working with Tom Cruise, starting with the 2008 movie “Valkyrie” about a plot to kill Hitler.
Now at age 56, McQuarrie has directed and co-produced the last four “Mission: Impossible” films, with Cruise as the tough special agent Ethan Hunt. In a recent interview, McQuarrie shared thoughts on making AI the bad guy in the latest films, the chance of ending the series, and a “gnarly” secret project with Tom Cruise. When asked when they decided “Dead Reckoning” and “Final Reckoning” would be the last two movies in the series, McQuarrie said:
“Over the course of ‘Rogue Nation’ [2015], ‘Fallout’ [2018], and then ‘Dead Reckoning’ [2023], we went deeper into the characters’ emotions and arcs.
At some point, we saw the story was getting much bigger. I said, ‘Look, we know it’s going to be a long movie, let’s just cut it in half.’ We didn’t really think of it as the end until halfway through ‘Dead Reckoning.’ Slowly, we started to feel this movie is about the franchise itself, more than just one mission.”
McQuarrie adds that while these films may mark the end of an era for “Mission: Impossible,” the future is still open, with new exciting projects always possible. This interview shows how complex it is to make some of Hollywood’s biggest action films.
It also hints at what might be next for a beloved franchise. With “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” strongly hinting at the end of the series, the question arises: Where does Tom Cruise go from here? In the mid-2000s, the “Mission: Impossible” movies kept Cruise’s career going strong during a time when his public image took a hit.
As Hollywood shifted toward an all-franchise model, Cruise’s only movie series became his lifeline. When films like “Knight and Day” and “Edge of Tomorrow” didn’t do as well as hoped, new “Mission: Impossible” movies consistently saved the day. Cruise took risks with some projects between the sure hits, but because he was Tom Cruise, the stakes felt higher.
Some risky projects aimed to launch franchises themselves. His role in “The Mummy” was an attempt to kick-start a shared universe of monster movies that didn’t pan out. His portrayal of Jack Reacher in two films also didn’t quite take off, with the second movie notably underperforming.
Critics loved “Edge of Tomorrow,” but it disappointed at the box office. One of the few original non-action films he did was “American Made,” a great cynical drama about a pilot involved in the CIA’s illegal drug and gun operations. Despite setbacks, “American Made” and “Edge of Tomorrow” showed Cruise’s charisma and range in complex roles.
But for the past six years, he has mainly focused on “Mission: Impossible” films and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Making “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” and “Final Reckoning” as two connected movies was very complicated and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking ahead, Cruise has said he’s moving forward with another action series, but details are limited. He’s also talked about playing the rude studio executive Les Grossman from “Tropic Thunder” again.
It’s unclear if this will happen, but it could be very funny if it does. He’s also in talks for a film with “The Revenant” director Alejandro González Iñárritu about “the most powerful man in the world causing a disaster and going on a mission to prove he is humanity’s savior.” This could let Cruise tap into his underused comedy skills while showing a darker side, like his role in “Collateral.”
