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Will Mission Impossible Live Up to Paramount's Expectations? - Analyst Blog

Viacom Inc.’s VIAB film division – Paramount Pictures – is likely to make a mark with the upcoming release of the much-anticipated flick, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. On Jul 31, the feature film will hit around 3,956 screens.

As per market analysts, the movie is expected to garner as much as $48.7 million domestically in the opening weekend itself. In order to promote the film, Paramount has teamed up with leading TV brand in North America, TCL.

Interestingly, the Mission Impossible movie franchise accumulated over $2 billion since its debut in 1996 and has produced four super-hits so far, with an average collection of $500 million per movie. The last movie from the franchise garnered nearly $694 million at the global box office.

In the last two quarters, Viacom’s Film business has hit a rough patch owing to lack of hit movie releases. Also, in the last quarter, the company’s Global Theatrical revenues deteriorated 10%. Thus, all hopes are pinned on this latest movie launch for a turnaround at the company’s Film segment.

Meanwhile, 2015 has been pretty rewarding for Hollywood with hit releases like Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Avengers Age of Ultron, which have collectively generated business of over $1 billion. Over the last seven months, Hollywood reaped nearly $6.6 billion from the ticket sales, of which Paramount enjoys a meager 5.5% market share.

Comcast Corp. CMCSA-owned Universal Pictures has been so far dominating the 2015 U.S. box office with a 28.4% market share. The significant market hold mainly came on the back of successes like Jurassic World and Furious 7. Meanwhile, The Walt Disney Co’.s DIS Buena Vista studio owned a 20.2% share in 2015 driven by the success of Avengers Age of Ultron and Inside Out. On the other hand, Time Warner Inc’.s TWX Warner Bros. has been enjoying the third spot in 2015 with a 17.3% market share.

However, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is likely to face competition from recently-released flicks like Vacation and Ant-Man. Thus, it has yet to be seen whether the new release will set the cash register ringing for Paramount and boost Viacom’s Film business.

Viacom currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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