Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation which took the No. 1 spot both domestically and internationally for two weeks in a row, just crossed the $300M mark worldwide for Paramount Pictures and Skydance Prods. The fifth film in the studio’s franchise to date has grossed $118.5M here and $184.6M overseas. Next weekend will…

Even though the cash register for the summer box office doesn’t close until the end of Labor Day, kids are already heading back to school. Rentrak reports that 24% K-12 schools are back in session this Friday versus the 9% that were in attendance last Friday. As such, the release schedule adjusts accordingly, with more…

While it reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenues this morning which sent shares sliding in pre-market trading, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group also announced bullish plans for its entertainment division. Alibaba Pictures, the film and TV production and distribution arm of Jack Ma's conglom, is making…

7TH UPDATE, Monday 2:58PM – Final weekend actuals: Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation arrived closer to the industry’s estimates yesterday morning with $55.5M, still a gross that’s considered a comeback for both Tom Cruise and the M:I franchise. The sequel, according to distrib experts, is…

FX Networks continues to gobble up TV rights to hit movies. This time the slew of pickups includes Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, which dominated the domestic and overseas box office over the weekend. The Tom Cruise-led sequel is headed to the company’s suite of networks – FX, FXX and FXM and FXNow for VOD, along…

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Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this weekly column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business.

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Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions’ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, the 5th installment in the $2.1B franchise, took flight overseas on Thursday with rollout beginning in such key markets as Korea, the UK, Mexico and Australia. The opening gross through Friday is a muscular $26.4M and the offshore frame…

The Griswolds have started their latest trip to Walley World slower than expected. Warner Bros./New Line’s Vacation made $3.805M in its opening Wednesday, which includes Tuesday night previews of $1.2M. Despite the low number, it was the top film on Wednesday. Current weekend estimates now see a five-day in the…

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation opens Friday, but with rave reviews piling up, Tom Cruise and company don’t want to waste any time getting started on M:I-6. “We’re starting to work on it now,” Cruise told Stewart last night on The Daily Show. “We'll probably start shooting it next summer." (See video above.)

Assumin…

Warner Bros./New Line’s updated sequel Vacation started its weekend journey last night at 7 PM, gassing up $1.2M. The film, which follows Clark Griswold’s son, Rusty, in his return to Walley World, opens 32 years to the day after the 1983 original Chevy Chase film National Lampoon’s Vacation. 

On the lower end of proje…

I thought it would be hard to top Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, but this franchise just keeps getting better. The latest edition, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is not just the best movie of the summer, it is the best summer movie of the summer, with its smart script and direction from Christopher McQuarrie…