According to Matt Belloni, Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” was so expensive it grossed $567M worldwide and lost more than $200M in its theatrical run.
The film, which I quite liked, ended on a cliffhanger. The plan was to have both films serve as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. This is an ambitious undertaking and I really hope it was worth all of the time, effort and money.
Now, while I was filing at Cannes, I had been told that the next installment, ‘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 my sourcing.
Well, guess what? Belloni is hearing very similar things about ‘Mission: Impossible 8.’ He’s saying it is “running well over $300 million in production cost” and the recent delays will balloon it even further. The film will continue to shoot well into the summer and possibly even the fall.
‘Mission: Impossible 8’ restarted production in March 2024, after last year’s strikes halted shooting on the movie in mid-July. There’s been a lot of delays with this one, and more bad luck recently occurred on the film when it was reportedly delayed yet again due to a malfunction while filming with a $25 million submarine.
Director Christopher McQuarrie has stated that, before the strikes, around 40% of the movie was shot, and that they were done location shooting in Africa and the Arctic. He also added that the biggest and most complicated sequence of the film had yet to be shot.
Last month, Paramount moved “Mission: Impossible 8” from its original June 2024 date to May 23, 2025. Delayed by a full year … THR added that the film was also going to be dropping its original title ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part II’ for an unannounced new one.
It should be reminded that, possibly, two of the most expensive movies ever produced in Hollywood, “Gladiator 2” and “Mission: Impossible 8” are both from Paramount Pictures. They are both still shooting. This could be a catastrophe in the making.