Christopher McQuarrie has been set to return to Paramount’s Mission: Impossible franchise, recently signing a deal to write and direct the next two films. He confirmed the pact today on Twitter. The news comes after McQuarrie piloted Mission: Impossible – Fallout to the franchise’s top total box office; the pic…

UPDATE, writethru: Warner Bros/New Line's evil sister thrilled to a $77.5M bow at the international box office this weekend. The Nun‘s debut flight came in well past projections to score the biggest overseas opening of all films in the Conjuring universe in like-for-like markets. Out of the 60 markets where she’s…

UPDATE, writethru: There were milestones and action aplenty at the global and international box office this weekend, which were again led by Warner Bros/Gravity Pictures’ The Meg. The prehistoric shark kept moviegoers biting for another $67M in 55 markets to increase the overseas catch to $230.4M and the worldwide…

MONDAY AM UPDATE, writethru: The Meg figures updated. Warner Bros/Gravity Pictures' prehistoric shark took a whale of a bite out of the box office in its opening this session as it surprised both at home and abroad. As of this morning, Meg counts $101.5M across 42 offshore markets, The Meg gobbled up a global launch…

4th Update expanded writethru, Saturday AM: Warner Bros.’ Chinese co-production The Meg keeps getting larger, swelling from the $15M Friday and $36M three-day we saw yesterday to a first day of $16.5M and FSS $40M projection this morning. The Meg received a B+ from CinemaScore audiences, which is the same grade earned…

FX Networks continues to stock up on the biggest movie titles on the market. The cable network’s latest purchases are current box-office champion Mission Impossible: Fallout, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Deadpool 2, A Quiet Place, Hotel Transylvania 3, The Equilizer 2, as well as Skyscraper, Blockers, Pacific Rim Up…

Extending its unusually public experimentation with its business model, MoviePass parent Helios & Matheson Analytics introduced a new subscription scheme and finally saw its stock rally after a drastic two-week plunge. Gone is the previously planned price hike to $15 a month from $10. Instead, the company is targeting…

SUNDAY UPDATE, WRITETHRU: Tom Cruise ruled the international box office this weekend as Paramount Pictures/Skydance's Mission: Impossible – Fallout took the No. 1 spot with $76M in 56 markets. That hikes the overseas total to an estimated $205M through Sunday, and the global cume to $329.5M. At the same stage of play…

5th Update Sunday AM Final: With chart Paramount is reporting a second $35M weekend for its Skydance co-production of Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which is easily the best sophomore frame for the Tom Cruise franchise. Depending on how you slice and dice it, M:I: Ghost Protocol had a funky platform release during the…

UPDATED with closing stock price. MoviePass parent Helios & Matheson, with its 3 million subscribers in an uproar and its stock cratering, put out the latest “all is well” message today, likening its position to Uber’s in its early disruptive days. Investors didn’t buy the “we’re still here” claim, sending shares down…

Tom Cruise has a right to gloat this week. I will grant him that because, precisely ten years ago, all he wanted to do was hide. Cruise once confided to me that one of his abiding rules was to "stay resilient," and he's proved his point.. The mega success of his sixth Mission: Impossible elevates Cruise to the status…

MONDAY UPDATE, writethru with actuals: Paramount Pictures/Skydance's Mission: Impossible – Fallout lit the fuse this weekend with an action-packed $155.83M worldwide opening to rep the best start ever for the Tom Cruise franchise. Of that, $94.6M — up $2.6M from the Sunday estimate — comes from the international box of…