Tom Cruise-led spy sequel scores highest opening ever for non-3D Hollywood movie as new figures say China’s box office will overtake the US in three years

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation scored the highest ever opening day for a non-3D Hollywood movie at the Chinese box office, taking $18.5m on Tuesday 8 September.

The Tom Cruise-led spy sequel continued its impressive run with a belated debut in the world’s most populous nation due to China’s annual July blackout of foreign movies. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film has already scored more than $500m (£325m) across the rest of the world, including a $182m haul at the North American box office.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – video review

The figure is Hollywood’s fifth-highest opening day of all time overall in China, after Furious 7 ($54.4m), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($29.2m), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($27.4m) and Terminator Genisys ($26.7m). If Rogue Nation can mimic the success of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return as the T-800 cyborg, which has scored close to $110m at the North American box office since debuting last month, the new entry could wind up surpassing Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’s franchise-high $694.7m global total from four years ago. Cruise’s fifth stint as super-spy Ethan Hunt is currently outpacing its predecessor, which scored more than $100m in China.

China accused of fraud over patriotic epic which shot down Terminator Read more

Fuelled by the success of Hollywood productions such as Furious 7, the year’s highest-grossing movie with $390m, and local fare such as Monster Hunt ($375m), China’s box office is on course for a record-breaking year. New figures from the Hollywood Reporter suggest it has just passed 2014’s 29.6bn yuan total with almost four months still to go. Experts are now predicting that the nation will boast the world’s biggest box office, overtaking North America, in just three years. Previous estimates had suggested the mark would be reached in 2020.

The US and Canada’s combined box office fell by 5% last year, but figures are expected to recover dramatically in 2015. They currently stand at $7.73m against 2014’s $10.64m total, with box office shoo-ins such as James Bond movie Spectre, dystopian sequel The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Pixar animation The Good Dinosaur and space opera Star Wars: the Force Awakens yet to come before the year is out.