The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a huge blow to the film industry, as not only have movies that were set to come out soon been delayed for the foreseeable future, but numerous movies in the midst of rolling cameras have shut down their productions, including Mission: Impossible 7. However, Tom Cruise is now back at work on the next Mission: Impossible movie doing what he does best: dangerous stunts.
While Mission: Impossible 7 has still halted filming in Italy due to the spread of the coronavirus, the cast and crew have resumed work in the United Kingdom. The Daily Mail shared photos of Tom Cruise performing motorbike stunts on a test track in Dunsfold in Surrey, England, a track that has previously been used for the BBC series Top Gear. Cruise was also seen racing a car around the tarmac, and the outlet reported that the actor seemed in “high spirits” as he was working and chatting with the crew members.
The fact that Tom Cruise is willing to handle these perilous stunts himself should come as no surprise to anyone who follows along with the Mission: Impossible movies. From scaling the world’s tallest building to hanging on to the side of a plane as it took off, Cruise has established himself as quite the Hollywood daredevil. Costar Rebecca Ferguson was also seen on the test track involved in a different car stunt with Cruise.
The Mission: Impossible 7 team shut down its operations in Italy in late February, resulting in Tom Cruise laying low at a hotel in Venice for a while. While it remains to be seen when work in Italy will resume, Cruise and everyone else are keeping the production chugging along in England, with Daily Mail speculating that it’ll eventually move to Pinewood Studios.
That said, given that the spread of the coronavirus shows no signs of slowing down, it’s hard to say how much longer Mission: Impossible 7 will be able to keep filming at all. Other blockbuster movies that recently had to halt their productions include The Batman, The Matrix 4, Jurassic World: Dominion and Fantastic Beasts 3.
Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 were both announced at in January 2019, six months after Mission: Impossible - Fallout’s release. As he did with Rogue Nation and Fallout, Christopher McQuarrie returned to handle writing and directing duties on both movies, and the plan was to shoot them back-to-back.
Along with Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson reprising Ethan Hunt and Ilsa Faust, respectively, Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8’s lineup of returning faces include Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis and Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge (who hasn’t been seen since the first Mission: Impossible movie). The new actors joining the franchise include Halyley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Nicholas Hoult and Shea Whigham, though none of their characters have been revealed yet.
As things stand now, Mission: Impossible 7 is set for release on July 23, 2021, and Mission: Impossible 8 will follow on August 5, 2022. However, don’t be surprised if both movies end up being pushed back if production ends up being suspended indefinitely.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on the Mission: Impossible franchise’s future. In the meantime, look through our 2020 release schedule to keep track of what movies are still coming out later in the year, though given these unusual times, these dates are subject to change.
