July is setting up to be a very interesting month for movie fans. There’s Nolan’s R-rated “Oppenheimer,” Gerwig’s “Barbie,” and McQuarrie’s seventh ‘Mission Impossible’ film.
A Puck report is saying that Tom Cruise is reportedly unhappy with ”Oppenheimer” taking away all the IMAX screens from “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” in July.
He is “furiously” showing his film to exhibitors in an effort to convince them to switch from “Oppenheimer” or “Barbie.” Will they budge?
According to Puck, Cruise is very frustrated about the situation. He's apparently been complaining "loudly" to Paramount about the situation and begging studio and theater executives to switch their plans, trying to open up as many premium large format screens as possible for ‘Dead Reckoning’.
IMAX prints of Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” are composed of 11 miles of film stock that weigh around 600 pounds. Odds are that exhibitors, who are banking on this IMAX-driven spectacle, will likely keep its current screen count.
Nolan has had a very loyal relationship with IMAX, “Oppenheimer” was shot exclusively with IMAX cameras, and the film set up its release date way before Cruise’s film.
As for “Barbie,” I had no idea it was an IMAX thing. Does it really matter if Gerwig’s film plays on IMAX? Surely, exhibitors would rather have the large-scale action of ‘Mission: Impossible’ playing instead of Gerwig’s dollhouse theatrics.