Mission: Impossible 7, which was most recently scheduled to hit theaters on Sept. 30, 2022, has been pushed back to summer of 2023. As Varietyreports, new release dates for the seventh and eighth entries in the blockbuster spy franchise were announced on Friday.
Mission: Impossible 7 will now premiere July 14, 2023. Mission: Impossible 8, previously set to open July 7, 2023, has been bumped back to June 28, 2024.
“After thoughtful consideration, Paramount Pictures and Skydance have decided to postpone the release dates for Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 in response to delays due to the ongoing pandemic. The new release dates will be July 14, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively. We look forward to providing moviegoers with an unparalleled theatrical experience,” Paramount and Skydance said in a joint statement.
The news arrives several months after the film was pushed back from May 2022 to September 2022. Prior to that, Mission: Impossible 7 was scheduled for July 23, 2021, then November 19, 2021. Last summer, production on the film was suspended a few weeks after a crew member tested positive for coronavirus.
Back in May 2020, audio leaked of Tom Cruise berating crew members for violating COVID-19 precautions. “They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf*ckers,” Cruise could be heard yelling. “That’s it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f*cking homes because our industry is shut down.”
Days later, it was reported that five crew members quit with Cruise’s rant seemingly being the final straw. The actor later addressed the incident and was unapologetic about his behavior towards “select people” from the production. “I said what I said,” Cruise explained. “There was a lot at stake at that point. But it wasn’t my entire crew. I had the crew leave the set, and it was just select people.”
Christopher McQuarrie, who directed the previous two Mission: Impossible films, 2015’s Rogue Nation, and 2018’s Fallout, returns to direct the seventh and eighth installments alongside a loaded cast that includes Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, and Angela Bassett, among others.
