Despite the premature death knell that says Tom Cruise’s career is over thanks to the poor domestic box-office showing of James Mangold’s “Knight & Day” co-starring Cameron Diaz, the A-minus list actor will live to soldier on another day.
In spite of reports that say (again) that the script for “”Mission: Impossible IV,” will be reworked (old news and Deadline add almost nothing), THR is reporting that Paramount has confirmed that Tom Cruise will appear in the film. There was speculation that if “Knight & Day” bombed “M:I4″ would be killed, but that’s obviously not the case.
People will latch on to the fact that ‘MI4’ may position Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character as an elder statesman spy who passes on the baton to someone younger, but they’d be wrong as this idea has been floated around for some time and before “Knight & Day” crashed and burned (and it’s made $101 million at the worldwide box-office so far and still has yet to open in key markets like the U.K., Japan, and Europe).
And frankly, this is a concept that everyone is considering and or actively taking on to milk and stretch out the lifespan of their franchises when stars get too expensive. Look at “X-Men: First Class” or the Marc Webb to-be-directed “Spider-Man” reboots which take the storyline into a teenage direct with newer (much cheaper actors). The “Bourne” franchise looks like its headed into the same direction, so whispers that ‘MI4’ is receiving an entire make-over due to Cruise’s perceived box-office poison are likely overstated.
The idea of continuing on with Cruise as the lead surely was debated, but surely the baton passing idea (already hinted at in films like “Indy 4″) was as well. As one exec says, ” ‘Mission: Impossible’ is a brand. It didn’t have anything to do with Tom Cruise in the beginning.” I.e, it can go on with new actors.
At this point, it’s probably slightly too early to tell what role Cruise will play in the film whether its the lead or co-lead, but whatever, really (THR says he’s also considering other roles like the rodeo film, “Paper Wings” with Reese Witherspoon and did a table read for the picture, so that sounds like he’s close to signing on)
Pixar director Brad Bird will be helming “Mission Impossible IV” which hits theater December 16, 2011, but we’d rather see do a sequel to “The Incredibles” or almost anything else. Has there ever been a good 4th film in a franchise? Even three is pushing it these days.