Weekend Box Office Report: July 31-August 2, 2015

Mission: Impossible takes off!

Tom Cruise was back in action this weekend, putting MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION on top at the box office with an estimated opening of $56 million!

The fifth entry in Cruise's espionage franchise marked the third-highest opening for the superstar behind the (unadjusted) openings of $64.8 million for WAR OF THE WORLDS and $57.8 million for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II, which has the second-biggest worldwide total in the series after GHOST PROTOCOL's lofty $694 million haul.

Cruise's new collaboration with director Christopher McQuarrie certainly got off to a better start than their last effort JACK REACHER, which opened with $15.2 million and limped to an $80 million domestic total.

Critics accepted Cruise's high-intensity mission with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences gave it an 'A-' CinemaScore. The PG-13 spy thriller cost a reported $150 million.

Opening in second was the new R-rated comedy VACATION with $14.8 million (and $21.2 million total since its Wednesday opening). The $30 million sequel/reboot of the National Lampoon classic has Ed Helms as the latest actor to play Rusty Griswold, taking his family on another disastrous attempt to reach the Wally World theme park.

The fluid-filled Griswold journey didn't have critics laughing (23% on Rotten Tomatoes), while audiences rode along with a 'B' CinemaScore.

Marvel's ANT-MAN shrunk to third place with $12.6 million after two weekends perched on top. Paul Rudd's mini-hero is at $132.1 million domestic and is approaching $300 million worldwide (and it still hasn't opened in China, Japan and South Korea).

The babbling MINIONS were in fourth with $12.2 million and have so far grabbed $854 million worldwide. Those henchmen stayed ahead of Adam Sandler's videogame-invasion PIXELS, which was blasted from second to fifth place with $10.6 million, a 56% drop from the comedy's opening last weekend.

On the lower half, Amy Schumer's TRAINWRECK was in sixth with $9.7 million, followed by last weekend's new dramas SOUTHPAW and PAPER TOWNS, down 55% and 63% respectively from their openings.

Pixar's INSIDE OUT has crossed $600 million worldwide, and JURASSIC WORLD is getting ready to close after crushing the competition for two straight months.

Outside the chart, Ian McKellan's MR. HOLMES took a rest and TERMINATOR: GENISYS hit the scrapyard. In limited release, Woody Allen's IRRATIONAL MAN expanded to 135 screens and is up to $1.1 million, and the David Foster Wallace biopic THE END OF THE TOUR had a solid $31k per-screen average for its debut.

Next weekend brings Aardman's stop-motion animated SHAUN THE SHEEP (on Wednesday), Meryl Streep's rock-star comedy RICKI AND THE FLASH, Joel Edgerton's thriller THE GIFT, and the reboot of FANTASTIC FOUR. Limited releases include Charlize Theron in DARK PLACES, from GONE GIRL writer Gillian Flynn, and the Kevin Bacon thriller COP CAR, from the next SPIDER-MAN reboot's director Jon Watts.

What August release are you most interested in seeing? VOTE HERE!