Just when you thought that there weren't enough big franchise movies taking over the 2015 movie release calendar, today we learn that yet another one has been added to the mix. Paramount Pictures has officially put the tentatively titled Mission: Impossible on their schedule and will now have the film in theaters on Christmas Day 2015 (according to Box Office Mojo).
What makes this move rather interesting is that it shows Paramount having a lot of confidence in the next Mission: Impossible. Just last week Disney and LucasFilm announced that they would be releasing Star Wars: Episode VII on December 18, 2015 - just one week before Mission: Impossible's weekend - but even beyond J.J. Abrams' new sci-fi epic the spy sequel starring Tom Cruise will have to do battle on marquees everywhere with Duncan Jones' Warcraft, Ben Affleck's Live By Night, Ron Howard's Inferno and DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 3.
But while the competition may be stiff, there's no denying the popularity of Ethan Hunt's adventures. When it was released in both IMAX and regular theaters two years ago, Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol totally blew up at the box office and wound up making nearly $700 million at the global box office (it now stands as Cruise's biggest hit of all time). If all of those people are interested in seeing the sequel then Paramount should have nothing to worry about.
Unfortunately, at this point in time we actually know very, very little about Mission: Impossible 5. Christopher McQuarrie, who directed Cruise for Jack Reacher, is helming the film and the script is being developed by Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce, but at this stage we have no information about the film's plot. As for the cast, Cruise is obviously going to return as Ethan Hunt, but it isn't clear who from his team in Ghost Protocol - be it Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner or Paula Patton - will be be joining him.
Exciting as it is to have so many huge movies coming out in 2015, I am worried that all of the movies are just going to wind up stepping all over each other. Personally, I would recommend going to your local bank tomorrow and starting up a special account so that you can saving money for movie tickets. Otherwise you may feel compelled to spend all of your money on The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Batman vs. Superman, Jurassic World and Terminator and be flat broke by the time Bond 24, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Star Wars: Episode VII and Mission: Impossible 5 roll around. It's important to be fiscally responsible.
