While there isn’t a movie or television show out there that hasn’t been impacted by the pandemic, one of the projects hit hardest is without a doubt the next chapter(s) in Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media’s Mission: Impossible franchise.
Originally planned to shoot back-to-back with Mission: Impossible 8 for release in July 2021, Mission: Impossible 7’s jet-setting production plans were thrown into disarray by various lockdowns and it found itself shifting back to November 2021, May 2022, September 2022 and – most recently – its current date of July 14th 2023.
Now, in a feature over at Variety, we have some insight into Paramount’s plans for the two films, which are being described as “a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character [and] culmination of the entire series.” As reported by the trade, one of the main reasons behind the latest delay into 2023 is the fact that M:I-7 ends with a cliffhanger, and so Cruise wants to have ensured that filming on M:I-8 has wrapped before the seventh instalment opens in cinemas. Hopefully that’s not due to the sheer insanity of the stunts that the now-59 year old is planning to pull off for his Mission: Impossible swansong.
The article also goes on to note that Mission: Impossible 7’s budget has ballooned to around $290 million due to the impact of COVID. For comparison, Mission: Impossible – Fallout cost $190 million, and the latest delay into 2023 is expected to add tens of millions more in additional costs and interest. That will push it beyond the likes of Justice League and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($300 million apiece) into the top five most expensive movies of all time (and the only non-Disney film to cost over $300 million).
Mission: Impossible 7 is directed by Christopher McQuarrie and features returning stars Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Henry Czerny, along with new additions Esai Morales (Titans), Hayley Atwell (Avengers: Endgame), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire), Rob Delaney (Deadpool 2), Mark Gatiss (Sherlock), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Charles Parnell (The Last Ship), and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride).
Mission: Impossible 7 is set for release on July 14th 2023 followed by Mission: Impossible 8 on June 28th 2024.
