Not all film franchises improve with age, but Mission: Impossible has stood up to the test of time. Since 2011's Ghost Protocol, Ethan Hunt's adventures have arguably either maintained or improved in quality, with last year's Fallout earning critical acclaim and making over $791 million worldwide. Following its release, it was unclear if/when Mission: Impossible 7 would happen, but now it's been confirmed that both seventh and eighth installments for the franchise are in the works, and Christopher McQuarrie will be back for both. Even better, there won't be years of distance between them.
Christopher McQuarrie will write and direct the next two Mission: Impossible movies, and this time around, both movies will shoot back-to-back, with Mission: Impossible 7 coming out in summer 2021 and Mission: Impossible 8 following in summer 2022. According to Variety, this move is intended to capitalize on the popularity of the franchise, and the reason Mission: Impossible 7 being released in 2021 is so it doesn't conflict with Tom Cruise's other big upcoming release, Top Gun: Maverick. McQuarrie confirmed this news with the below tweet.
Tom Cruise also chimed in on the big news, as he gets to keep his tenure as Ethan Hunt going past the 25-year mark.
With Tom Cruise still busy on Top Gun: Maverick, Christopher McQuarrie will start writing the Mission: Impossible 7 script, and while a production start hasn't been set yet, Paramount Pictures is reportedly hoping to roll cameras sometime later this year. While McQuarrie had expressed interest recently in working on other projects (such as Without Remorse, the Michael B. Jordan-led adaptation of the same-named John Clancy novel), the studio knew it "couldn't let a good thing die" and moved quickly to secure him for the next two Mission: Impossible movies.
After making uncredited rewrites on Ghost Protocol, Christopher McQuarrie was hired to take the reins on Rogue Nation, and he resumed those writing and directing duties for Fallout. Mission: Impossible started out as a franchise with a new director being brought on for each new movie to put their own spin on Ethan Hunt's mythology, but with McQuarrie being the only one to stick around more than once and now attached to two more movies, he's obviously now the primary creative force. Considering how many positive reviews and how much money his Mission: Impossible movies brought in, I don't blame Paramount for wanting him to stick around.
Now that we know for a fact that two more Mission: Impossible movies are on the way, now the wait begins for story details and learning who will join Tom Cruise onscreen. It's hard to predict when the former will arrive, but as for the latter, one would imagine that supporting protagonists like Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust, Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell and Simon Pgg's Benji Dunn will be back for one, if not both of the movies. Oh, and I suppose it's also work speculating on what kind of crazy stunts Cruise will do to freak audiences out.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any major updates concerning the Mission: Impossible franchise. For now, you can plan your trips to the theater this year accordingly by look through our 2019 release schedule.
