DHAKA: Tom Cruise has proved there’s still some gas in the tank after ‘Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation’ topped the US and Canada box office over the weekend.

The fifth installment of the franchise earned $56m, the second-highest opening for the series since Mission Impossible II’s $57.8m in 2000.

According to box office analysts Rentrak, 62% of the opening weekend audiences were male, and 81% over 25.

Senior analyst Paul Dergarabedian said Cruise was ‘a marketing machine’.

The star pulled off a turnaround after a string of underperforming films, including Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow, and managed to sidestep awkward questions about his belief in Scientology.

‘He created a new Tom Cruise in the minds of audiences,’ said Dergarabedian. ‘He came off as very approachable, funny, he did the lip synching with Jimmy Fallon’.

‘This is the playbook on how a star - who is also a producer on the movie - gets the word out about his movie.’

‘Vacation’, billed as a semi-sequel to the classic 1983 National Lampoon road trip comedy, starring Chevy Chase, opened second with takings of $14.9m.

Reviews of the $30m comedy have not been particularly kind and, according to exit polls, audiences gave the film a B CinemaScore.

‘While we have a B overall CinemaScore, the younger the audience, the higher the score,’ said Warner Bros. executive Jeff Goldstein.

The already released ‘Ant-Man’, ‘Minions’ and ‘Pixels’ rounded out the top five.

Top Five:

1. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation    $56 million
2. Vacation    $14.9 million
3. Ant-Man    $12.6 million
4. Minions    $12.2 million
5. Pixels    $10.4 million

BDST: 1529 HRS, AUG 03, 2015
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