Summary
It’s been a big week for fans anticipating the release ofMission: Impossible 8in May 2025. The teaser trailer recently dropped and, as expected, it featured a lot of Tom Cruise running for his life to save the world.The trailer also revealed that the seventh sequel will be calledThe Final Reckoning, which heavily suggests this could be the last time fans get to see Ethan Hunt in action,despite Tom Cruise’s insistence that he wants to play the character for many more years.
Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1didn’t have the box office return that Paramount was hoping for, and this has led to a rethink of howMission: Impossible 8is marketed.Even though the title suggests it could be the last movie in the popular action franchise, Tom Cruise has many more stunts to perfect in future installments, so he should be the one to call time on the franchise.
Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Cast
Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Attwell, Esai Morales, Hannah Waddingham, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Nick Offerman, Henry Czerny and Shea Whigham
Written by
Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen
Directed By
Christopher McQuarrie
Tom Cruise and Paramount appear to be at loggerheads over the direction of theMission: Impossiblefranchise.Dead Reckoning Part 1underperformed at the box office in 2023, but it was unfairly compared tothe Barbenheimer crazethat swept theaters that summer.The movie itself was one of the strongest in the franchise, and proved that the action franchise still had plenty left in the tank.Tom Cruise pulled off one of his most outlandish stuntsto date, riding a motorcycle off a cliff, and the tense ‘to be continued’ ending was an exciting new direction to go in. Let’s not forget,Dead Reckoning Part 1also had its fair share of hurdles to overcome, with multiple production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall,the finished product was very good, and unlike other long-running franchises,Mission: Impossiblejust gets better with each entry.
Tom Cruise has been very clear about his intentions for theMission: Impossiblefranchise and his future role in them. In an interview with theSydney Morning Heraldin 2023, he said:
Harrison Ford is a legend. I hope to be still going, I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him. I hope to keep makingMission: Impossiblefilms until I’m his age.
Sure, the action franchise doesn’t want to experience burnout likeIndiana Jonesand many others, but there haven’t been any signs of the quality declining ahead of the release of the eighth entry in the series.Mission: Impossible 8shouldn’t be the final entry, andEthan Hunt’s retirement should be decided by Tom Cruise.
Paramount Are Likely Promoting Mission Impossible 8 As The Final Reckoning To Boost The Box Office
Paramount are teasing the audience with the potentialend of theMission Impossiblefranchiseahead of the new installment’s release next year. However, unless Tom Cruise has had a sudden change of heart about wanting to play Ethan Hunt into his 80s, this is far from what he wants.It seems like Paramount are actually promotingMission: Impossible 8as the final entry to boost the potential box office takings.Dead Reckoning Part 1grossed 567.5 million at the worldwide box office, and while this figure is huge, it was significantly less thanFallout’s $791.1 million overhaul in 2018. To add to this,Mission Impossible 8’s budget is rumored to have ballooned to a staggering $400 million, meaning it will have to make significantly more thanDead Reckoning Part 1just to break even.
It’s a typical industry trick to bill a movie as the final chapter in order to boost interest and subsequently increase the box office, and this seems to be the case withMission Impossible 8.It’s not likely Ethan Hunt will be killed off or anything drastic like that, it’s just Paramount trying to boost their coffers and get a return on their huge investment. If the upcoming movie hits the billion dollar mark,Mission: Impossible 9will happen without a doubt, and Tom Cruise will get his wish to continue his beloved franchise.
