Paramount Launches a Cruise Missile

Fueled by baby-boomer nostalgia and the star power of Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible” has drawn record ticket sales for a Wednesday opening as it heads into the lucrative Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Paramount Pictures said its fast-paced spy thriller took in $11,758,094 at the box office during Tuesday night previews and on its official opening day Wednesday--a time frame counted simply as Wednesday by some industry record-keepers.

“It’s the largest Wednesday opening in May, but more importantly, it’s the largest Wednesday opening of any movie in the history of the industry,” said Barry London, vice chairman of Paramount’s motion picture group.

As a result, previous Wednesday opening records self-destructed.

“Terminator 2”--released on July 3, 1991, in 2,274 theaters--had held the top spot with $11,661,072 in ticket sales, including Tuesday evening previews. “The Firm,” which also starred Cruise, opened to $7.2 million on June 30, 1993, without Tuesday previews.

For Wednesdays preceding Memorial Day, “Mission: Impossible” has now eclipsed “Return of the Jedi,” which opened May 25, 1983, and took in $6.2 million, and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” which grossed $5.6 million when it debuted on May 24, 1989.

“Mission: Impossible” arrived in 3,012 theaters only two weeks after Warner Bros. opened its early-summer powerhouse, “Twister,” which has already taken in $104.2 million in domestic ticket sales through Wednesday.

London said he expects both films to do well in the next few days, since the Memorial Day weekend box-office total can reach $120 million, as much as doubling the preceding weekend.

“Mission: Impossible” has been helped by an aggressive marketing campaign by Paramount, which began with a teaser trailer in theaters last November, followed by trailers around Easter. At the same time, Cruise has been on a number of magazine covers and has made himself available for interviews about the movie, which the actor’s company produced.

Paramount also has arranged various corporate tie-ins. Kellogg’s has placed “Mission: Impossible” graphic art on 32 million boxes of Corn Pops; Apple computers, which supplied Powerbooks for the movie, is promoting the film through ads and displays in computer stores; and the film has been hyped on the Turner Broadcasting stations TBS and TNT during National Basketball Assn. playoff games.