Director Guy Ritchiehas had rotten luck with franchise-starters. In fact, he has succeeded only once, when he made Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in 2011. But despite earning over $500 million globally, the movie didn’t immediately inspire a third film. It has now been nearly 15 years, and the project has been stuck in development hell. During this time, Ritchie tried to start new franchises, but without any success. Earlier this week, Sherlock Holmes 2 was overtaken at the domestic box office by Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth and purportedly last installment of the long-running action series.
Now in its sixth week of release, The Final Reckoninghas generated $187 million at the domestic box office. It’s still unclear if it has the legs to pass the $200 million milestone, but even that wouldn’t be enough. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, the movie cost a reported $400 million to produce, making it one of the most expensive films of all time. What this also means is that it needed to do much better commercially in order to qualify as a hit. The film’s $187 million haul puts it ahead of Sherlock Holmes 2‘s $186 million lifetime domestic haul, but this is hardly an achievement worth celebrating at this stage in its run.
Globally, The Final Reckoning has made over $560 million, and will overtake its predecessor’s $565 million haul this weekend. Released in 2023, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning was seen as a commercial disappointment, considering its hefty reported budget of $300 million. However, its underperformance was blamed on Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie, which debuted only a week earlier and broke box office records. The Final Reckoning faced no such problem. In fact, it was given an added edge thanks to the studio touting it as the franchise’s last installment. The movie opened to divisive reviews, and appears to have settled at an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ritchie Hasn’t Had Success with Franchises
Ritchie’s first Sherlock Holmes film was a box office hit, grossing around $525 million worldwide in 2009, against a reported budget of $90 million. Sherlock Holmes 2 made over $540 million globally against a reported budget of $125 million. Ritchie’s other would-be franchise-starters — The Man from UNCLE, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Aladdin, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and more recently, The Fountain of Youth — haven’t spawned sequels yet. A third Sherlock Holmes movie was supposed to be directed by Dexter Fletcher, but it has been stuck in development for years. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
