The Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 release dates have officially been delayed. Tom Cruise's action franchise returned in a big way in the mid-2010s with a steady stream of sequels. The momentum of the franchise led to Mission: Impossible - Fallout becoming the highest-grossing entry in the series in 2018, with Christopher McQuarrie's film also receiving some of the best reviews of the franchise.
With this success, Paramount announced later that year that McQuarrie would write and direct Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 and shoot them back-to-back. They set 2021 and 2022 release dates for each entry and had plans to begin filming at the beginning of 2020. However, these productions are among those affected by the coronavirus, as production was shut down right when it was about to begin. The widespread delays have impacted release dates too, with almost every studio making changes to their release schedules. Now, Paramount has had to delay the upcoming Mission: Impossible sequels too.
Paramount made the announcement today that Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 have officially been pushed back, but only by a few months. Mission: Impossible 7 was initially scheduled to arrive on July 21, 2021, but will now hit theaters on November 19, 2021. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible 8 has moved off its August 5, 2022 date and will instead debut on November 4, 2022.
The decision to change the Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 release dates is hardly a surprise. It was recently reported that Cruise is hoping production will finally begin on the sequels in June, but that would put them on a very tight schedule to get done in time. Now that they have been delayed by a few months, Paramount has bought McQuarrie some more time to complete the movies and figure out how and when production will commence. The sequels were going to have a significant portion of principal photography take place in Italy, but that plan might be scrapped due to coronavirus.
With Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 moving back their releases by just a few months, it does put the franchise in a different position than recent installments. Instead of being one of the final blockbusters of the summer, the sequels will now be part of the fall season that can still feature several big movies. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Fantastic Beasts 3 are currently scheduled to arrive the two weeks before Mission: Impossible 7. The new date for Mission: Impossible 8 puts it in competition with an untitled Disney live-action movie and Shazam 2 after its delay. But, either could move that date to avoid the latest entry in Cruise's franchise, which also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Nicholas Hoult, Hayley Atwell, and more. Even though fans would've hoped to see the sequels hit their previous dates, at least these delays won't keep them waiting that much longer.
Source: Paramount
