Paramount Announces Delays For Both 'Mission: Impossible' Sequels, 'Dungeons & Dragons' & More

When the book is written about this COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on Hollywood and the film industry, “Mission: Impossible 7” will hold a special place amongst the films mentioned. Why? Well, the Tom Cruise action flick was the first major production to find itself suspended due to the pandemic, as the film was hoping to begin work in Italy when the virus had its first massive outbreak in February. Now, after nearly two months of not working, it appears that the delay is not only continuing, but it’s forcing the studio to push the release dates for both new “Mission: Impossible” sequels.

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According to Variety, both “Mission: Impossible 7” and “Mission: Impossible 8” are being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s forced production stoppage on both films. The plan was for filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie and his cast to film both sequels back-to-back and then release the films on July 21, 2021, and August 5, 2022, respectively. Now, Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Missions Force are moving from the summer to the fall, with new dates of November 19, 2021, and November 4, 2022, respectively.

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Obviously, as we’ve seen with productions such as “The Batman,” studios are beginning to feel the effects of COVID-19 on films that were scheduled to populate 2021’s summer movie season. Thankfully, for many theater owners, a lot of the films that were scheduled to arrive this summer are probably going to fill those gaps.

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In addition to the two “Mission: Impossible” sequels getting delayed, Paramount also announced the shuffling of release dates for films such as Chris Pratt’sThe Tomorrow World” (new date of July 23, 2021), “Paw Patrol” (new date of August 20, 2021), and “Dungeons and Dragons” (new date of May 27, 2022). The horror film, “Spell,” which was set for August 28, 2020, has been removed completely from the schedule, which could mean that the studio is looking at alternative distribution methods (such as streaming) or perhaps waiting a bit longer to see what hole the film can fill in the schedule for the rest of 2020 and early parts of 2021.