Has Barbenheimer’s hype affected the other blockbuster release this month, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning?

Amidst the pomp and thorough pink pageantry that is the successful “Barbie” movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and the super serious reviews regarding Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, “Oppenheimer,” it almost feels like no other film in their right mind would release given the hype of the double feature.

Spare a thought though for Tom Cruise and remember, the man who at one stage was defined as the “saviour” of going to the cinema, that his latest blockbuster was released a mere week before Barbenheimer crashed the action-adventure party. “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One” received mixed reviews but was complimented for its action sequences once again and debuted at number one at the US box office.

But with attention now switching to “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” now they both received their widespread releases last Friday, are other films suffering because of it, or has it led to an increase in audiences for other films or cinemas as a whole?

UK cinema chain Vue issued a press release after the weekend celebrating the fact that the release of “Barbenheimer” led to their strongest weekend of cinema attendance since pre-COVID-19 levels, but much of that is speculated to solely be for the two films, rather than a general interest in the cinema.

So how is “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One” holding up a week since its release, and the somewhat forgotten-about third blockbuster this summer still punching at its weight class, or has Atomic Pink stunted the mission?

How did Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One fare in its second week?

Not very well, according to Box Office Mojo - lending credence to the idea that despite packed cinemas, other movies did not experience the “Barbenheimer” bump that some had predicted.

In its opening weekend, “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One” took $54,688,347 USD at the US box office across 4,327 theatres. That number dropped by 64.6% in its second weekend, earning $19,354,511 in its second weekend and being dropped from 6 cinemas after its premiere.

That led to the film dropping to fourth at the US box office, pipped by only a few hundred tickets by surprise box office success, the controversial “Sound of Freedom” starring Jim Cavaziel. That earned 19,825,575 in its fourth week of release, surpassing “Mission: Impossible” after word of mouth, be it the praise or the controversy it has brought with it.