It looks like as well as filming almost back to back, Tom Cruise’s final Mission: Impossible movies will be like two chapters of one story, with Mission: Impossible 7 reportedly set to end on a massive cliffhanger that will leave fans waiting a whole year to be resolved in Mission: Impossible 8. The final two movies in the long-running action franchise have seen a number of delays due to the Covid pandemic, and for that reason found their release date slipping back to 2023 and 2024 respectively.
Tom Cruise made his first appearance as agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible in 1996, which will make the franchise almost three decades old when he finally bows out in two years’ time. While the first few movies were certainly not box office flops by any standard, a change up from the fourth movie in the series saw a huge jump in both critical reviews, which exploded from 57%-71% on Rotten Tomatoes to 93%-97% for the last three movies, and almost doubled box office takings. As the franchise heads towards its end, everyone will be looking to see if the franchise can end with a billion dollar blockbuster finale.
A new report by The Hollywood Reporter has now suggested that fans may have even more reason to see both movies on the big screen, with Mission: Impossible 7 seemingly set to end on a big cliffhanger, although that is not set in stone yet. With Cruise having creative control on the series, the star appears to want the ability to change the exact ending of the penultimate entry in the franchise depending on how the story of the next one turns out. For this reason, Paramount are reportedly unable to really commit to a budget for the final installments with much of the content still pretty fluid.
Mission: Impossible’s Final Movies Have Not Had an Easy Journey.
The production of Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 has been hugely impacted by the Covid pandemic, but it seems that there have been other production issues also weighing heavily on the creation of the films. While Cruise seems determined to make these the biggest and most action-packed movies of the entire franchise, there are a said to be a number of issues happening between the star and the studio over things like the film’s release windows and the fact Cruise is holding up post-production on M:I 7 until M:I 8 is done.
Since the Covid pandemic, many movies changed from having a 90 day cinematic exclusive window to having just 45 days, or in some cases less, before the films moved to streaming platforms. Paramount are pressing for Mission: Impossible 7 to have the same shortened release window, where Cruise is said to be pushing for Paramount to change back to the previous 90 day window for both movies.
In many ways, Cruise’s investment in the project and his willingness to push as hard as he can to make these the best movies of the series can only mean good things for fans of Mission: Impossible. It is understandable that Cruise will want to see the franchise going out with the biggest bang possible, and by making sure that both movies are completed, whatever the cost, to his requirement means it doesn’t matter how the next movie performs, Cruise will get both films exactly as he wanted them regardless.