RUMOR: Tom Cruise Wants Chloe Zhao to Direct ‘Mission: Impossible 9’ — Script Being Written?

I’m going to put “RUMOR” in big fat caps locks for this one since it comes from DeuxMoi, who have a wobbly track record, but since this is going around, why not tackle it.

The story goes that Tom Cruise is reportedly courting Chloé Zhao (“Hamnet”) to direct “Mission: Impossible 9,” and that the script is being written as we speak.

Sounds crazy, right? I do have my doubts, but Cruise has technically never publicly closed the books on this franchise. The last installment, released last year, grossed $600M worldwide, but the real issue was its budget, which, with COVID delays and rewrites, was reportedly $400M+—and that inevitably resulted in heavy losses for the film.

Now, we all know how David Ellison is obsessed with IP — why would he retire this franchise? A $600M gross is still a lot of money, and if the budget were under $200M, which is truly how much these Mission: Impossible movies should cost, then it would have probably made a profit.

It’s also not that big of a stretch to believe that Zhao is interested in directing a Mission: Impossible — after all, she personally sought to direct an MCU movie (“Eternals”) and since then has shown real openness in returning to the comic book genre.

We all figured Cruise was in the post-Mission: Impossible phase of his career: up next for him is a buzzy role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Digger,” set for October release. He also has Top Gun, Days of Thunder, and Edge of Tomorrow sequels in the works, not to mention that much-rumored Les Grossman movie.

We’ll keep an eye out on this story and whether there’s any actual movement that occurs, but as I mentioned, it’s worth writing something about this rumor since it does make sense.