The television series of the same name, produced by Bruce Geller, serves as the inspiration for and continuation of the Mission: Impossible film series. The actor, Tom Cruise, who plays Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt in the movie franchise, is the primary producer. Incorporating musical themes from the Lalo Schifrin original series, the movies were filmed, scripted, and composed by various filmmakers and musicians.

Six movies from the Mission: Impossible series have been released thus far during a 20-year period. In 2022, Deadline announced that the seventh and eighth movies, titled Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, are scheduled for release in July 2023 and June 2024, respectively. The cumulative global box office revenue of the Mission: Impossible movies is almost $3 billion, but how does every movie rank in this regard?

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

6 Mission: Impossible III — $399.4M

     Paramount Pictures

Despite being the film in the franchise that made the least revenue, Mission: Impossible III was the eighth highest-grossing film of 2006, earning just under $399.4 million. In the film, the assignment of his life awaits Special Agent Ethan Hunt, who is once again played by Cruise. Julia Meade, a nurse who is engaged to Ethan, but is ignorant of his actual profession, is played by Michelle Monaghan. To take on the elusive arms dealer Owen Davian, portrayed by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who wants to sell a hazardous relic known as “The Rabbit’s Foot,” Ethan must once again work with a team of agents.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

5 Mission: Impossible — $457.7M

Roughly set six years after the 1988 television series’ end, the 1996 film Mission: Impossible follows the story of Ethan Hunt, who is blamed for the murder of his IMF crew after a bungled operation in Prague. Hunt is charged with giving a mysterious munitions dealer named Max access to national secrets. Ethan searches for the true traitor while on the run in order to clear his identity. The first film in the franchise obviously did well enough to warrant more Mission: Impossible content, grossing $457.7 million at the global box office.

4 Mission: Impossible II — $549.6M

Mission: Impossible II, which premiered in 2000 and played on 3,653 screens, had the most showings overall, according to IGN. It retained this distinction until 2001 when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released on 3,672 screens. In Mission: Impossible II, Ethan Hunt works with skilled thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandiwe Newton) to identify and destroy a genetically engineered illness possessed by renegade Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who is Nordoff-former Hall’s lover. The movie expertly combines action and romance, allowing for a thoughtless escape from reality. In total, it grossed $549.6 million.

3 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation — $688.9M

     Paramount

Following the dissolution of the IMF (Impossible Missions Force), Ethan Hunt and his crew are forced to fight with the Syndicate, an international black ops terrorist group made up of renegade government operatives from all over the world while hiding from the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) in 2015’s Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Hunt gathers his squad in preparation for their mission: to establish the Syndicate’s existence and destroy the group by any means necessary. Actors Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, and Alec Baldwin co-star alongside Cruise. Rogue Nation grossed an impressive $688.9 million worldwide.

2 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol — $694.7M

     Paramount Pictures Releasing

While pursuing a person only known as Cobalt (Michael Nyqvist), Ethan and the whole IMF are falsely accused of bombing the Kremlin in the 2011 film Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. To stop Cobalt from triggering a world nuclear war, Hunt and three other agents — played by Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton — are left to fight for humanity. The consensus of critics on Rotten Tomatoes described the movie as “stylish, fast-paced, and loaded with gripping set pieces,” calling it a “big-budget popcorn entertainment that really works,” proving it is well worth the number-two spot it received and grossing $694.7 million.

1 Mission: Impossible - Fallout — $787.2M

So far, the highest-grossing film in the Mission: Impossible franchise is 2018’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout, sitting at $787.2 million. The movie tells the story of the Apostles, a terrorist organization founded by former operatives of the rogue group known as the Syndicate. The Apostles pose a serious threat to the globe after an IMF mission to collect plutonium fails. The CIA starts to doubt Ethan Hunt’s commitment and motivations when he decides to carry out the initial operation on his own. According to Screen Rant, the movie won critical accolades for its action scenes, Christopher McQuarrie’s direction and writing, and the cast performances. Fans of Mission: Impossible will have to stay tuned to see if the seventh and eighth films can surpass this one.