Did Bloggers Hurt Mission: Impossible III's Box Office Numbers?

Posted on May 10, 2006

Melissa P. McNamara, the author of CBS News' Blogophile column, reports about some bloggers that organized boycotts of the new Tom Cruise movie, Mission: Impossible III. She raises the question, "Did bloggers hurt the box office debut of "Mission: Impossible III"?

Nicole Kidman may still love Tom Cruise, but the same can't be said of some bloggers. "Mission: Impossible III" debuted with $48.025 million, well below industry expectations and almost $10 million lower than the franchise's previous installment, according to studio estimates. Industry analysts had expected the movie to open in the range of "Mission: Impossible II," which debuted with $57.8 million in 2000, and "War of the Worlds," which premiered with $64.9 million over the July 4 weekend last year.

Some bloggers, including gossip blogger Perez Hilton, definitely tried to hurt Tom's box office numbers. Perez encouraged readers of his blog to see Hoot instead. The CBS piecee also mentions a few other bloggers boycotting Cruise, including The Last Reel. Andrew Sullivan encouraged a boycott because Tom Cruise, a scientologist, encouraged Viacom to pull the South Park scientology episode. Tom Cruise denies doing this, but Tom's recent antics - like his couch jumping and his attacks on Brooke Shields - aren't helped his popularity.

Some bloggers went to see the movie for director J.J. Abrams and loved it -- despite not caring much for Tom Cruise. PopSugar clearly enjoyed the film. They wrote, "MI3: Mission Accomplished." Even if bloggers did manage to deflate the U.S. numbers a bit the film still made a staggering $70 million in Europe alone.