By Prepare to witness Tom Cruise undergo through pain in the next few years, as the Mission: Impossible franchise will be getting two new back-to-back entries. Christopher McQuarrie, the writer-director behind Jack Reacher and previous Mission entries Rogue Nation and Fallout will return for both of them.
Cruise and McQuarrie seemed to be unable to contain their enthusiasm, with both of them confirming the news on Twitter.
Missions: Accepted#MissionImpossible
— Christopher McQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) January 14, 2019
Summer 2021 and Summer 2022 pic.twitter.com/V6SNvZx2La
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) January 15, 2019
It’s news that is easy to receive, as Mission: Impossible is the best it’s ever been under McQuarrie’s direction. At the same time, it might have been nice to see some fresher talent behind the camera. Every Mission movie before Fallout had a different director: Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird, and McQuarrie did the first, second, third, fourth (Ghost Protocol), and fifth, respectively. All brought something different to the table, with Bird’s contribution probably being my favorite.
Though who am I kidding: Tom Cruise will never stop anyway, so what’s to stop his currently-favorite director? Let the two of them stage death-defying stunts until the end of the known universe. The seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible movies will be shot back-to-back, with releases on summer 2021 and summer 2022, respectively. Cruise is currently shooting the sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which McQuarrie co-wrote. The two recently teamed up on the set of that film to tell you to turn off your goddamn motion smoothing.
Christopher McQuarrie Closes Deal to Direct Back-to-Back ‘Mission: Impossible’ Films [Variety]