Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
When a thrilling ride becomes a box-office hurdle
ESTIMATED domestic box office revenue
$134 – 187MM
Mythosis universal quests used
4
Audience appeal
3.36 – 4.11%
Hidden potential
$568 – 627MM
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is the concluding movie of the iconic action franchise starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film picks up from Dead Reckoning Part One, with Ethan attempting to stop a rogue AI known from causing global chaos.
The script focuses entirely on Ethan’s quest. It completely sidelines the quest of the rogue AI. With secondary characters used superficially, the movie struggles to achieve depth in its storytelling.
1. The invisible plot structure of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
1A. The script of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning borrows 89% of its events from 4 mythological tales
Ethan’s quest is driven by the desire for finding an elusive person/object. The quest borrows events from the tale of Jason in Greek mythology. Similar to Jason acquiring The Golden Fleece by neutralizing King Aeetes, Ethan entraps The Entity to avert a nuclear crisis.
The desire to dominate others drives The Entity’s under-developed quest of Power. The quest borrows few events from the tale of Circe in Greek mythology. Similar to Circe, The Entity fails to see the scheme designed to defeat it.
The desire for honour drives Grace’s shallow quest. The quest borrows events from the tale of Hanuman in Hindu mythology. Both Hanuman & Grace demonstrate unquestioned loyalty even showing a willingness to sacrifice themselves to protect their friends.
The desire to punish offenders drives Gabriel’s shallow quest of Vengeance. The quest borrows events from the tale of Duryodhan in Hindu mythology. Duryodhan’s retaliation, stemming from his belief that the throne was unjustly taken from him, parallels Gabriel’s revenge for being forsaken by The Entity.
Mythosis plot structure
#531,014
Tales interweaved
Circe, Jason, Duryodhan & Hanuman
I. How does interweaving mythological tales lead to infinite story plots?
II. Can the pursuit of a Desire have more than one quest?
2. Potential of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning's plot structure: $134–187MM
The interweaving of 32 mythological tales can generate a billion unique stories. By using these 32 tales, we can extract the plot structure of any story across various genres. Our study of blockbuster, hit, and flop plot structures led to the discovery of the Mythosis Code. The Code is a set of principles for creating compelling stories. These storytelling principles reveal the strength of a story’s plot structure.
2A. Plot structure evaluation of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
- All Blockbusters have at least 3 universal quests. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning uses the universal quest of Expedition. The quests of Vengeance & Honour are sparingly used.
- In Blockbusters, every character mirrors ONLY ONE universal quest. Ethan mirrors the universal quests of Expedition. Gabriel mirrors the quest of Vengeance. Grace mirrors Honour.
- Every Blockbuster character borrows at least 35% of the universal quest. Ethan borrows 38% events from the quest of Expedition. Gabriel & Grace borrow less than 10% events from the quest of Vengeance and Honour.
- Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.5. Interweaving occurs when events of 2 quests occur simultaneously in the story.The Final Reckoning’s quest interweaving score of 0.67 is above par.
2B. Box office revenue estimation of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning’s plot structure has 4 characters with clear motives but only Ethan’s quest is well-developed.
There are several instances of forced twists (for example – Kittridge’s attempt to take the “Podkova”) that creates gaps in the plot structure.
The Script Score measures the potency of a plot structure. Higher its adherence to the principles of Mythosis Code, greater is the potency. The Script Score helps estimate a movie’s audience appeal & revenues. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.
Script Score
0.12
Audience appeal
3.36% – 4.11%
I. How is Mythosis Code used to estimate revenues?
II. Aren’t box-office revenues influenced by several factors beyond just the story plot?
3. The ideal plot structure of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
We have identified 32 mythological tales. These are the superset of all tales across cultures. The quests of these tales have recurred over time periods. They represent human behaviours embedded in our shared memories. Each tale is the richest expression of the pursuit of a human desire. The tales have a unique pattern of events spread over 5 major arcs.
32 mythological tales strengthen the story and unlock its hidden potential. First, we map a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale. This exercise reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. Second, identify missing events to plug the gaps. Plugging gaps deepens the character quest. Third, use missing events to strengthen the interweaving between various quests.
3A. Gaps in the current plot structure
The plot structure fails to develop the quests of Entity, Gabriel & Grace.
3B. Unlocking the hidden potential
The hidden potential of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is unlocked by Mythosis Plot structure #531,014 that interweaves the tales of Circe, Jason, Duryodhan & Hanuman.
The plot structure reveals the fundamental gap in the script due to which the quests of The Entity, Gabriel and Grace are under-developed.
- The Doomsday Vault – repository of all human knowledge is central to the script. It sets the quests of Ethan, Entity & Gabriel in motion.
- By accessing the Vault, The Entity assumes complete control
- Gabriel wants to use the Vault to control the Entity
- Ethan uses the Vault as a bait
- Once each of the quests are set in motion it reveals a detailed journey for each character
- The Entity’s objective is to lead both Ethan & Gabriel so that they relocate the “Podkova” to the Vault. The other objective is to destroy the “poison pill”. Circe from Greek mythology was unaware that Eurylochus escaped to warn Odysseus of her witchcraft. Similarly, The Entity is unaware that it failed to destroy the “poison pill”.
- Gabriel is beaten by Ethan in getting the “Podkova” but gains control of the Vault.
- Besides her exisitng quest Grace infiltrates the Vault to install the “poison pill”
Mythosis Plot structure #531,014 can generate domestic revenues of $568 – 627MM!
Explore Mythosis Plot structure #531,014 to enhance current revenues by 4X!
Tags: Jason, Expedition, Hanuman, Honour, Duryodhan, Vengeance, Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen, Paramount Pictures, 2025