‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’, set to drop this summer, will officially have a runtime of 2 hours 51 minutes. That’s right—nearly three hours of Tom Cruise leaping from buildings, dangling from helicopters, and barely breaking a sweat.
For those who thought the franchise couldn’t go bigger, longer, or more absurd, congratulations: you’re wrong. I had hinted at this potential runtime as a 3-hour cut of ‘Final Reckoning’ test screened last month. They’ve decided to only shave off around 10 minutes from that cut.
At 171 minutes, this installment is the longest in the series by a wide margin. To put it in perspective, “Mission: Impossible” (1996) was a neat and tidy 110 minutes, a brisk spy thriller. Fast forward to ‘Dead Reckoning’ (2023), which came in at a more indulgent 163 minutes.
‘Final Reckoning,’ which will screen at Cannes on May 14, will be released only nine days after its bow on the Croisette, on May 23. The budget for this eighth ‘Mission: Impossible’ is said to be around $400M, but as long as the money spent is gloriously showcased on-screen, then what do we care? That’s Paramount’s problem.