“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” was so expensive that it grossed $567M worldwide and lost more than $200M in its theatrical run. The film also ended on a cliffhanger. The plan was to have two films serve as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.
It’s not like ‘Part One’ was a bad movie, it wasn’t, and it definitely delivered the cozy thrills we’ve come to expect from the franchise, but audiences just didn’t show up in masses. This has led to Paramount’s interest in promoting the next instalment, ‘Mission: Impossible 8,’ as the “final” entry in the action franchise as a way of boosting audience interest — Cruise has pushed back on this plan and warned the studio not to promote it as such.
Back in May, while I was filing reports at Cannes, I had been told that ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ had a budget that was nearing $400M. The internet lost it over my reporting, and I obviously wouldn’t be saying this figure if I wasn’t confident in the sourcing behind it.
Well, guess what? THR is hearing similar things about ‘Mission: Impossible 8,’ and is now reporting that the budget is close to $400M — an absolutely insane figure. The good news out of all this is that the film finally wrapped production last month.
‘Mission: Impossible 8’ had restarted shooting in March 2024, after last year’s strikes halted production on the movie in mid-July 2023. There’s been a lot of delays with this one, and more bad luck recently occurred on the film when it had been reportedly delayed, yet again, due to a malfunction while filming with a $25M submarine.
The THR report goes on to add that Paramount “bullishly” wants to bring ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ to Cannes, which Cruise approves of. I’ve already tackled the risk of premiering Hollywood blockbusters at Cannes and Venice, and I won’t again go in-depth as to why, you just need to be aware of the fates of recent films such as “Horizon,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” and “Joker: Folie à Deux” to understand the situation.
Paramount recently moved “Mission: Impossible 8” from its original June 2024 date to May 23, 2025, delaying it by a full year. The film was also going to be dropping its original title, ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part II’ for an unannounced new one, which will be announced on November 11, the same day the trailer pops online.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.