The long anticipated opening of 'Mission: Impossible 3' proved a disappointment at the box office. While Paramount's film easily won the weekend box office competition, it took in an estimated gross of $48.025 million, substantially less than industry experts had predicted.
Most movie insiders expected 'M:I:III' to gross approximately the same as 'Mission: Impossible II' did in 2000. The second installment of the 'Mission: Impossible' films opened with $57.8 million from Friday to Sunday over the Memorial Day weekend.
The film failed to meet expectations despite very strong reviews from most critics and the appeal of Philip Seymour Hoffman who played the villain in this film.
Industry experts are questioning whether or not Tom Cruise's behavior and extensive tabloid exposure may have created some form of backlash against the star of the film.
Last week's top grossing film, 'RV,' which stars Robin Williams as a father taking his family on a disastrous vacation, fell to second place with estimated grosses of $11.1 million.
'An American Haunting' opened in third place. The tale of the supernatural starring Sissy Spacek and
Donald Sutherland grossed $6.4 million.
Fourth place belonged to 'Stick It,' which took in $5.5 million, followed by the controversial September 11 film, 'United 93' which grossed $5.2 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were the animated hit, 'Ice Age: The Meltdown,' 'Silent Hill,' 'Scary Movie 4,' 'Akeelah and the Bee' and 'Hoot.'
Despite the disappointing start for 'M:I:III,' overall revenue for the top 12 grossing films was up for the seventh week in a row. This year's top 12 took in a full 27 percent than the top 12 films did a year ago.
