The ‘Mission Impossible’ series loves writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and Christopher McQuarrie loves it back. More importantly, so does the franchise’s producer/star, devoted collaborator Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures. The studio has reached a deal for McQuarrie to direct the next two “Mission: Impossible” film, episodes seven and eight, essentially, back to back. Fans, many whom count McQuarrie’s kinetic movies the best installments of the series, will likely rejoice and it’s a big coup for Paramount who has essentially removed the respected writer/director off the job market for several years.
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McQuarrie already bucked the “Mission: Impossible” series trend with “Mission: Impossible – Fallout“—each ‘M:I’ film was always directed by a new filmmaker and the Academy Award-winning “Usual Suspects” screenwriter was the first in the franchise to the follow-up. Moreover, ‘Fallout’ was the first direct ‘Mission Impossible’ sequel as well, picking up where McQuarrie’s 2015 “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” left off.
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Sources tell Variety, who breaks the new tonight, that much like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” both ‘Mission’ films would be shot back-to-back —in order to take advantage of the surging popularity of the series. “Mission Impossible’ has always done well at the box office, but the franchise has performed best in recent years under McQuarrie’s aegis, its daredevil stunts, and his inventively-written set pieces.
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The idea is “Mission Impossible 7” will bow first sometime in the summer 2021 and the with “Mission Impossible 8,” following in the summer of 2022. Tom Cruise will turn 60 years old in that latter summer, and apparently, there is no stopping him.
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It sounds like McQuarrie’s next ‘Mission’ film idea could be potentially done already; the film is apparently being slotted in 2021 to avoid conflict with Paramount and Cruise’s next big franchise, “Top Gun: Maverick,” which suggests the films could have arrived even sooner weren’t it for that big blockbuster conflict.
2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” was the highest grossing film in the series earning almost $800 million ($791M globally), nearly $100 million more than McQuarrie’s previous 2011 installment “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” which took in $684.7 million. That seven-year gap between ‘Mission’ films is probably exactly what Paramount was hoping to avoid, hence hiring McQuarrie for something that sounds like it might be an epic two-parter.
McQuarrie and Cruise confirmed the news tonight on social media.
Summer 2021 and Summer 2022 pic.twitter.com/V6SNvZx2La
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) January 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/chrismcquarrie/status/1084958567856168961
