‘MISSION’ BESTS POOH MOVIE OVER WEEKEND

Tom Cruise sped past Winnie-the-Pooh at the box office to lead all films for the second straight week with an estimated $35 million in ticket sales for “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.”

The success of Paramount Pictures’ sixth, stunt-filled “Mission: Impossible” installment, along with muted enthusiasm for the Walt Disney Co.’s “Christopher Robin,” made for a seldomseen result: A Disney movie debuting in second place.

In a year where the studio has already notched three $1 billion films worldwide (“Black Panther,” ”Avengers: Infinity War” and, as of this week, “Incredibles 2”), the more modest Winnie-the-Pooh live-action revival opened with a relatively ho-hum $25 million. As a reminder that “Christopher Robin” was a minor release for Disney, “Black Panther” on Sunday became the third film to ever cross $700 million domestically, a feat only previously accomplished by “Avatar” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Made for an estimated $75 million, Marc Forster’s “Christopher Robin” stars Ewan McGregor as a grown-up Christopher Robin reunited with the beloved characters of the Hundred Acre Wood: Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and the rest (who are rendered digitally but convincingly felt-like). While reviews were mixed, audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore.

The late-summer success of “Mission: Impossible” — which has made $124.5 million thus far along with $205 million internationally — is helping solidify a comeback summer for Hollywood. The summer box office is up 10.6 percent from last year’s record-low season, according to comScore, and yearto-date ticket sales are up 8 percent.

Not all the news was great. Comedy continues to struggle at the box office. The R-rated action-comedy “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, debuted in third with $12.4 million for Lionsgate.

And a pair of poorly reviewed releases sputtered in nationwide release. Fox’s young-adult dystopian thriller “The Darkest Minds” (19 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) opened with $5.7 million on 3,127 screens. And right-wing filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s “Death of a Nation” (0 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) debuted with $2.3 million on 1,032 screens.

DAVID JAMES Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the film “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.”