Tom Cruise's dream to film a movie in space won't be happening any time soon, as it was recently announced that director Klum Shipenko has been approved to film his next project, The Challenge, in space over 12 days.
While an exact date for Shipenko's project has yet to be set, the production crew for The Challenge could be headed to space as soon as Oct. 5, according to Collider. The team has reportedly been training at the Yuri Gagarin Center for Cosmonaut Training in Moscow, Russia, and received a stamp of approval from the facility on Sept. 16.
Despite the progress made by Shipenko and his team, Cruise's mission to film in space is far from over. In fact, it was previously announced that Cruise's project has backing from both Space X and NASA. And While Cruise has yet to find a studio for the film, Universal said it would consider providing the minimum budget of $200 million after Cruise wraps up his commitment to Mission: Impossible 7.
Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman is also already attached to the Cruise project and spoke about the uphill battle of securing insurance for the project back in January. At the time, Liman said, "You can't make a movie without having an insurance conversation. And [whether] you’re talking about going to outer space, [or] you’re talking about shooting in London in the heart of the pandemic, you know, insurance is gonna dictate whether that actually is possible."
M:I 7 director Christopher McQuarrie is also expected to serve as a story advisor and producer on the space film, while Cruise, Liman and van Sandwijk will also produce.
In the meantime, Russia's Channel One inked a deal to live stream the launch of The Challenge's production crew internationally, with the network's CEO Konstantin Ernst describing the impending event as "a breathtaking reality show and a chance to attract millions of TV viewers." The Challenge currently does not have a release date.
Ernst added, however, that he would have loved to see Cruise's project make it to space first, telling Variety, "We certainly would have preferred arriving at the International Space Station at the same time with Tom Cruise...we would have enjoyed shooting the film together much better." He also compared a future project with Cruise to the joint American and Soviet Union space mission of 1972.
Cruise will next appear in Top Gun: Maverick, which was recently pushed by Paramount until May 27, 2022. The release of M:I 7 was also delayed and will now hit theaters on Sept. 30, 2022.