Ethan Hunt's next mission finally received its official title.
The upcoming seventh film in the Mission: Impossible franchise has been officially titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Variety reports that Paramount Pictures unveiled the title for its long-running spy adventure franchise during its presentation at CinemaCon, the annual trade show where studios showcase their upcoming film slates for theater owners. Franchise star Tom Cruise wasn't in attendance for the presentation but had previously revealed at CinemaCon 2021 that Dead Reckoning Part One included a stunt that was "far and away the most dangerous thing" the actor had attempted yet in a film.
Created by Bruce Geller, Mission: Impossible began as a television series on CBS, airing 171 episodes across 7 seasons from 1966 to 1973. Each episode followed a small team of government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force as they accepted and accomplished secret missions. ABC revived the property in 1988, where it ran for another two seasons. The franchise jumped to the big screen in 1996 with Mission: Impossible, which featured the first appearance of Cruise's Ethan Hunt. Cruise has reprised the role in five sequels. The two-part Dead Reckoning will mark his seventh and eighth appearances in the series.
The six Mission: Impossible films have grossed over $3.5 billion at the worldwide box office. The popular series at one point looked to be faltering, with 2006's Mission: Impossible III only grossing $398 million worldwide, but Cruise successfully reinvigorated the franchise with the help of Christopher McQuarrie. The writer-director was first brought on board to do some uncredited script work on 2011's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and then officially joined the franchise as both writer and director for 2015's Rogue Nation. McQuarrie returned for 2018's Fallout, which became the highest-grossing entry in the spy franchise, grossing almost $800 million at the worldwide box office. The film also earned a near-perfect 98% critics score on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.
The two-part Dead Reckoning sees Cruise joined by Mission: Impossible veterans Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Frederick Schmidt, who reprise their roles from previous films as Luther Stickell, Eugene Kittridge, Benji Dunn, Ilsa Faust, Alanna Mitsopolis and Zola Mitsopolis, respectively. Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss and Cary Elwes have also joined the franchise in unknown roles.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is set to open in theaters on July 14, 2023. A sequel is set to be released on June 28, 2024.
Source: Variety