‘Mission: Impossible’ release dates delayed (again) to 2023 and 2024
The release dates of the seventh and eighth installments of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series have been pushed back once more due to pandemic-related production delays.
Deadline reports that the two action flicks are the latest in a long list of movies to be delayed by the pandemic, as Hollywood struggles to deal with closed movie theaters and halted or scaled back productions.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance announced Friday, Jan. 21 that they made the decision to postpone Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 to 2023 and 2024, respectively.
“After thoughtful consideration, Paramount Pictures and Skydance have decided to postpone the release dates for Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 in response to delays due to the ongoing pandemic,” the companies said. “The new release dates will be July 14, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively. We look forward to providing moviegoers with an unparalleled theatrical experience.”
Mission: Impossible 7 was originally supposed to be released last Sept. 30, 2021, while Mission: Impossible 8 was most recently set for July 7, 2023. The two films were originally supposed to be shot back-to-back.
The seventh installment in the American action spy film is the third in the series directed by Christopher McQuarrie, following Rogue Nation (2015) and Fallout (2018).
MI:7 stars Tom Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) along with an ensemble cast including Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Frederick Schmidt reprising their roles from previous films.
Newcomers include Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss and Cary Elwes.
Currently, M:I7 and M:I8 are the only major-studio releases that have announced new release dates.
Franchise star Tom Cruise already has a Paramount-Skydance tentpole slated to be released later this year.
Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, was initially set to be released in 2019 but also faced multiple delays. It is currently still on track to be released in the US this year, on May 27, 2022.