Box office
On opening day, Mission: Impossible 2 made $12.5 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing Wednesday opening, behind Men in Black, Independence Day and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Playing at 3,653 theaters, it had the largest number of screenings of any film, beating Scream 3. The film would go on to hold this record until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone the following year. It grossed $57,845,297, crossing over Toy Story 2 to have the third-highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park and The Phantom Menace. Moreover, the film surpassed its predecessor Mission: Impossible for not only having the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film based on a TV show, but also the largest opening weekend for any Paramount film. It also dethroned Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me for scoring the biggest opening weekend for a spy film, a position it held until Austin Powers in Goldmember in 2002. The TV show opening weekend record would last for seven years until The Simpsons Movie was released in 2007. Additionally, Mission: Impossible 2 would achieve the biggest opening weekend for a Tom Cruise film for five years until 2005 when War of the Worlds replaced it. Its opening weekend was the highest of the Mission: Impossible franchise, only surpassed by Fallout in 2018. The film generated $91.8 million in its first six days of release, making it the second-highest Memorial Day opening weekend, after The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Within eight days, it earned a total $100.1 million, not only making it the third film of 2000 to reach the $100 million mark, after Erin Brockovich and Gladiator, but the fourth-fastest film to do so as well.
When Mission: Impossible 2 first opened, the film was ranked number one at the US box office, beating Dinosaur, Shanghai Noon, Gladiator and Road Trip. For the film's second weekend, it collected a total of $27 million, outgrossing Big Momma's House in the process. Declining by 53%, the film had the franchise's biggest second weekend drop, a record that was beaten in 2023 by Dead Reckoning Part One. It held on to the number one spot for a total of two weekends until it was overtaken by Gone in 60 Seconds. Mission: Impossible 2 was the most recent film to top the box office for multiple weekends until Hollow Man that August. During its third weekend, it went on to become the highest-grossing film of 2000 domestically, earning a total of $157.9 million and surpassing Gladiator. It would remain so until that December when it was dethroned by How the Grinch Stole Christmas. By early July, the film crossed the $200 million, becoming the year's first film to do so.
The film started its international release on June 1, 2000, and topped the Australian box office ahead of Gladiator and 28 Days with a gross of $3.7 million (A$6.4 million) in its opening 4-day weekend from 366 screens, a record for United International Pictures. It maintained number one for three weekends before being displaced by Me, Myself & Irene. It was a big success in Japan, recording the second biggest opening ever behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace with a gross of $13.6 million from 356 screens, grossing over $50 million in just over three weeks and $94 million in total. The film also delivered the third-highest opening in Spain with $2.9 million, after the latter film and The Sixth Sense. In the United Kingdom, Mission: Impossible 2 managed to beat out Chicken Run to top the box office, making $6.2 million (£4.1 million) in its opening weekend. During its second weekend, it fell into second place once Chicken Run reclaimed the number one spot, but still earned $3.7 million (£2.5 million) and outgrossed The Patriot and Thomas and the Magic Railroad. It recorded the biggest July opening in Germany with a four-day gross of $7.9 million. Its screen average of $8,804 was the country's highest of 2000, beating American Pie. The film also had record openings in Austria ($1.3 million) and Russia ($0.3 million). The opening in Austria surpassed the previous all-time record held by Men in Black.
At the end of its run, Mission: Impossible 2 eventually grossed $215,409,889 in the United States and Canada and $330,978,216 in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $546,388,105, making it the highest-grossing film of 2000. It also became the third-highest-grossing film of that year domestically, behind How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Cast Away. It is John Woo's highest-grossing film, surpassing Face/Off, and was the highest-grossing film in the Mission: Impossible series until the release of the fourth film, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, in 2011.
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