Last we heard from the Mission: Impossible franchise, Paramount had signed Christopher McQuarrie, who helmed both Rogue Nation and Fallout, for two more outings, thus officially ending the series’ previous life as a kind of auteurist Chatroulette. (Before the Usual Suspects writer’s tenure, previous entries were helmed by Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, and Brad Bird.) Now that their director is in place, they’ve now picked release dates: As per Deadline, episode 7 will arrive on July 23, 2021 and 8 will bow on August 5, 2022.
Yes, that means we’ll be getting M:I movies in back-to-back years, which is now one of the cool things for cool movie franchises to do. Does that mean they’ll be one continuous story separated by a whole year à la Avengers? No word yet. Perhaps they’ll simply be self-contained stories, just like the classic TV show to which it bears almost no resemblance beyond self-destructing orders and the occasional mask.
At the risk of sounding ageist, let’s note the 5’7” elephant in the room: By the time the eighth Mission: Impossible his theaters, star Tom Cruise will have turned 60, though he’ll likely still look like Paul Rudd’s cooler brother. Worse, he’ll have almost killed himself doing stunts at least four more times while you, half his age, only sat on your couch and watched him.
(Via Deadline)