Tom Cruise is headed back to the big screen as secret agent Ethan Hunt, leader of the Impossible Missions Force, in the upcoming sequel Mission: Impossible — Fallout. The sixth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise hits theaters July 27, and Paramount Pictures has released a new trailer for the film to keep excitement high leading up to its premiere.
Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who previously helmed Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, the film follows Ethan Hunt and his IMF team as they deal with the aftermath of a mission gone wrong. Along with Cruise, returning cast members include Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, and Sean Harris. Joining the franchise are newcomers Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby.
Here’s everything we know about Mission: Impossible — Fallout so far.
Going behind the scenes (again)
With less than two months to go before Fallout hits theaters, Tom Cruise has given us a tantalizing sneak peek into one of the more adrenaline-pumping stunts to be featured in the film. On June 3, the action star shared a behind-the-scenes video on his Twitter page showing off the so-called “HALO jump,” which stands for High Altitude, Low Open. Cruise is apparently the first actor to ever perform such a stunt on camera.
A full year in the making. Check out how we did it. #MissionImpossible Falloutpic.twitter.com/FMsPWfSZfR
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) June 3, 2018
The two-and-a-half-minute video offers both an explanation of the maneuver, as well as the rehearsals the actor went through in order to prepare himself for the dangerous feat. You’ll also be able to check out the helmet the crew had to design especially for this stunt, which was described as both a prop and a lifesaving device. “No one thought it would require over 100 jumps to get the scene,” noted director Christopher McQuarrie.
Of course, toward the end of the video, you’ll actually be able to watch as Cruise (in character as Ethan Hunt) performs his jump from a plane hovering at a height of 25,000 feet. He then opens his chute once he’s less than 2,000 feet above the ground. Getting the shot was a challenge in and of itself, as lighting was key — there was only a three-minute window every day available to the crew.
“I can’t wait for an audience to see this,” Cruise says in the video. Honestly, neither can we.
A trailer you can’t refuse
In May, Paramount Pictures released a new, full-length trailer for the film (see above) that not only shows off some fresh footage, but also takes a deeper dive into the story that sends Ethan Hunt on his latest impossible mission.
Cavill’s role in the film receives quite a bit of attention, and the Man of Steel star seems poised to make his character a daunting foil to Cruise’s secret agent. The trailer also previews more of the famous stunt sequences that have made the Mission: Impossible franchise so popular.
Going international
Paramount released the first international poster for Mission: Impossible — Fallout in April 2018. Like much of the marketing material up to that point, the poster put the spotlight on Cruise performing yet another death-defying stunt — something that’s become a hallmark of the franchise.
Getting that ‘real’ feeling
A behind-the-scenes video released by Paramount offers a fascinating peek at Cruise learning how to fly a helicopter in order to film one of the movie’s key sequences — one that has Ethan Hunt performing some complicated maneuvers high in the sky.
Cruise’s commitment to realism in the stunt scenes for the Mission: Impossible movies is a long-standing tradition, and clearly that hasn’t changed with Fallout. The camera rig built for Cruise’s helicopter is particularly noteworthy, as it isn’t often that filmmakers want to capture what’s going on inside the cockpit (which is usually occupied by stunt pilots) just as much as what’s happening outside of it.
The first high-flying, fist-fighting trailer
Mission: Impossible — Fallout got its first full trailer February 4, 2018, with Paramount releasing the preview after a series of teases and sneak peeks in the days leading up to its debut.
Along with introducing many of the new additions to the Mission: Impossible franchise and the film’s returning characters for this chapter, the trailer for Fallout also offers an early look at some of the death-defying stunts that will fill the latest installment of the series. Among those stunts is the much-hyped helicopter sequence (which involves Ethan Hunt both flying a helicopter and hanging from it), and the expected montage of high-speed chases in various vehicles.
Posterized
Paramount Pictures put the focus on Tom Cruise’s franchise-leading secret agent in the first official poster for Mission: Impossible — Fallout.
The poster debuted in early February 2018 and features an image of Ethan Hunt hanging from a rope attached to a helicopter, which is shaping up to be one of the key stunt sequences in the film. The whole image is set within the silhouette of Cruise’s character, who’s armed with a handgun.
Ouch!
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show with co-stars Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, and Simon Pegg, Cruise introduced some cringe-inducing footage from the production of Mission: Impossible — Fallout. The film’s star brought along some video featuring the scene in which he broke his ankle — quite gruesomely, in fact — while attempting to jump from the roof of one building to another.
Just in case the footage doesn’t make you recoil enough at normal speed and zoom, Norton slows it down and magnifies the image to get a close-up shot of the moment the actor’s ankle bends in a way it definitely shouldn’t bend.
To Cruise’s credit, he actually manages to finish the scene after breaking his ankle, pulling himself up and hobbling past the camera. In fact, he worked through it well enough that the scene will reportedly be used in the final cut of the film.
Unfortunately, the injury forced the studio to suspend production on the film, but it certainly makes for a compelling sequence in the end.
What’s in a name?
Tom Cruise kicked off 2018 by revealing the official title for the new Mission: Impossible film — and the first photo — via his new Instagram account.
Cruise posted the photos shortly after creating the Instagram account. His first photo posted to it was a black-and-white shot of the clapboard featuring the Fallout title.
Hang in there
Shortly after creating his Instagram account, Cruise posted the first official photo from Mission: Impossible — Fallout.
The image features Cruise hanging on to the side of a helicopter in flight — the latest in the actor’s long history of performing many of his own death-defying stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise, among other projects.
“We’ve upped the ante for the sixth #MissionImpossible. I can’t wait for you guys to see more,” wrote Cruise in the photo’s caption.
An impressive legacy
Currently the 20th-highest-grossing franchise of all time worldwide, the Mission: Impossible series first hit the big screen in 1996 after making the leap from television. That first film earned $180 million in U.S. theaters and $457 million worldwide — a hefty amount for that decade.
That highly successful first film went on to spawn five sequels, with the most successful to date being 2000’s Mission: Impossible II in U.S. theaters ($215.4 million) and 2011’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol ($694.7 million) worldwide. Collectively, the franchise has grossed more than $2.7 billion.
The most recent installment, 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, earned $195 million domestically and $682.7 million worldwide.
Updated June 5 with a new behind-the-scenes video detailing the HALO jump stunt.
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