It isn’t unusual for filmmakers who work on mega-budget projects to step away from them for a while before jumping back in. Michael Bay made the mid-budget 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi after directing three Transformers movies. Jon Favreau went even smaller with Chef, after directing two Iron Man films. But Peter Jackson stayed in the blockbuster sandbox after pulling off one of the most ambitious film projects in history: the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2005, he released King Kong, which emerged as a massive commercial success and won three Oscars. The movie was recently overtaken at the international box office by Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Marketed as the final film in Tom Cruise‘s long-running action franchise, The Final Reckoning has grossed nearly $510 million at the worldwide box office so far. Of this total, around $165 million has come from domestic theaters, while the remaining $340 million has come from overseas markets. Two decades old at this point, King Kong wrapped up its run with around $338 million from overseas markets, and $556 million globally. Produced on a reported budget of $207 million, King Kong was the most expensive film ever produced at the time of its release. By comparison, The Final Reckoning is said to have cost around twice as much.
The film’s budget ballooned because of pandemic-related and strike-induced delays in production, which means that it will essentially have to beat Mission: Impossible – Fallout‘s lifetime global haul of $791 million in order to break even. The film opened to divisive reviews, although its Rotten Tomatoes scores — 80% from critics and 89% from audiences — paint a more favorable picture. By comparison, each of the previous installments directed by Christopher McQuarrie all scored in the 90s on the aggregator website, even the commercially underwhelming seventh film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.
The MonsterVerse Introduced King Kong to a New Generation of Fans
Starring Adrien Brody, Jack Black, and Naomi Watts, King Kong holds an 84% Rotten Tomatoes score, although audiences seemingly weren’t as impressed, awarding it a rough 50% rating. The IP was rebooted around a decade later with Gareth Edwards‘ Godzilla and Jordan Vogt Roberts‘ Kong: Skull Island, which spawned the MonsterVerse franchise. The last installment, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, grossed around $570 million worldwide. The franchise will continue with director Grant Sputore‘s Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, slated for release in 2027. You can watch The Final Reckoning in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.