Final reckoning? Trailer for Mission: Impossible 8 suggests end to franchise

The trailer for the eighth Mission: Impossible film has been released with a new title that suggests it might be Tom Cruise’s final mission.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which is set to be released next summer, was originally intended to be the second chapter of 2023’s Dead Reckoning, with a title of Dead Reckoning Part Two.

Yet after the seventh film scored underwhelming box office results, with $570m worldwide from a budget of $291m, the strategy for the follow-up was refigured. A 2024 summer release was pushed and now a new title has been announced.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the budget has ballooned to $400m, which would make it the fourth most expensive film ever made. The trade also claimed that the decision to call it the final instalment, in hopes that it might boost box office, goes against what Cruise hopes for the series.

“Harrison Ford is a legend,” he said in a 2023 interview. “I hope to be still going. I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him. I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible films until I’m his age.”

There is also a rumour that Paramount hopes to bring the film to next year’s Cannes film festival.

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The new film will follow on from the events of Dead Reckoning, bringing back longtime cast members Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg as well as new recruits Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff. Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby will also return while Hannah Waddingham will join.

Cruise is currently shooting the new film from The Revenant and Birdman director Alejandro G Iñárritu in the UK. It also stars Sandra Hüller and John Goodman. He has also recently been attached to a possible sequel to Days of Thunder.

Next summer will also see the release of Jurassic World Rebirth with Scarlett Johansson, James Gunn’s new take on Superman and live-action remakes of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon.