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Paramount pushes back Mission: Impossible 7 and 8

Blair Marnell
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Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his IMF team have a new mission: Getting the next two Mission: Impossible films into theaters. However, it’s not going to happen in 2022. Paramount Pictures and Skydance have pushed back the release of Mission: Impossible 7 from September 30th of this year to July 14, 2023. Consequently, Mission: Impossible 8 will now be released on June 28, 2024. It also has the distinction of being the only Hollywood film to have staked a claim to that date in 2024.

Paramount and Skydance released a joint statement that explains why the films have been delayed: “After thoughtful consideration, Paramount Pictures and Skydance have decided to postpone the release dates for Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 in response to delays due to the ongoing pandemic. The new release dates will be July 14, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively. We look forward to providing moviegoers with an unparalleled theatrical experience.”

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According to Deadline, the seventh movie is currently in post-production. Writer and director Christopher McQuarrie had previously made plans with series star Tom Cruise to film and release both sequels back-to-back. Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic has significantly slowed down their production, resulting in numerous delays.

The cast of Mission: Impossible - Fallout.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Cruise made his first appearance as IMF Agent Ethan Hunt in the initial Mission: Impossible film in 1996. It’s proven to be a very resilient revival of the television series, with installments directed by Brian De Palma, John Woo, J. J. Abrams, and Brad Bird. McQuarrie has helmed every subsequent movie in the series, starting with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Although Cruise is 59 years old, he has consistently performed risky practical stunts for the Mission: Impossible films, including hanging on to an airplane as it took off. That’s one of the reasons why making these movies takes so much time and training. By the time Mission: Impossible 7 hits theaters, it will be five years since the previous film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, was released.

Cruise will be joined by his returning co-stars Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, and Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. Vanessa Kirby will reprise her part from Fallout as arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, while Henry Czerny is returning to his role as former IMF director Eugene Kittridge for the first time since the initial film in the franchise.

Esai Morales is reportedly portraying Mission: Impossible 7‘s main villain, while Pom Klementieff, Cary Elwes, Shea Whigham, Mark Gatiss, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Lampros Kalfuntzos, Indira Varma, and Greg Tarzan Davis will have supporting roles in the next sequel. It’s currently unclear which of the new additions will also return for Mission: Impossible 8.

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Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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Everyone loves the Mission: Impossible movies. There are a variety of reasons why: they offer old-fashioned cinematic thrills; they are a form of escapism akin to the James Bond movies, but tougher and more American; they feature one of the last truly great movie stars, Tom Cruise. Ever since the fourth installment, Ghost Protocol, resurrected the genre from pop culture oblivion, the conventional wisdom is that the modern M: I films just keep getting better and better, and are the series' best entries.

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