Everyone expects a same-day box-office battle between “Barbie” (Warner Bros.) and “Oppenheimer” (Universal) on July 21, but the real contention may lie between “Oppenheimer” and a film that opens 10 days earlier, Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”.A new report in Puck claimed that Cruise has personally called rival studio executives and exhibitors in hopes of convincing them to relinquish Plf (premium large-format) screens that may have planned to show “Oppenheimer” and show “M:i 7” instead.
Beyond the visual impact those screens provide, they also come with an upcharge that can add millions to the box office — especially for an action spectacle like a seventh “Mission: Impossible” movie.Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” his first film for Universal after parting ways with longtime partner Warner Bros., will take over all IMAX screens in North America for three weeks, bumping “Mission: Impossible” from auditoriums.
Audiences will line up to see…