Mission: Impossible 7 has been given a special dispensation to resume filming in the U.K. The next film in the long-running action franchise stopped work back in February when the coronavirus pandemic hit Italy especially hard, and since then it has remained suspended. As restrictions on film and television productions began to lift around the globe, various members of Mission: Impossible 7's cast and crew indicated they plan to resume work in September, with outdoor scenes being among those shot first. Mission: Impossible 7 will have to adopt the U.K.'s new coronavirus guidelines for large productions.
Just about every major production has been shut down since mid-March, and only some have indicated their intention to pick back up again in the coming weeks. The Avatar sequels began just a few weeks ago, and Jurassic World: Dominion will resume work tomorrow, July 6. It's worth nothing that Jurassic World: Dominion is also being shot in the U.K., and will implement a number of new health and safety measures in order to do so.
Typically, the U.K. would require a two-week quarantine for cast and crew members traveling from other countries, but Mission: Impossible 7 will be among those exempt from that, according to Variety. Mission: Impossible 7 star Tom Cruise spoke to culture secretary Oliver Dowden last week and helped create this new plan, which apply to only cast and crew coming to England specifically to work on film and television productions that qualify as British, according to British Film Institute classifications. It isn't clear which other productions will be included in this aside from Mission: Impossible 7.
This means Cruise and the rest of those working on Mission: Impossible 7 won't have to partake in a two-week quarantine before starting production again. It isn't clear if they're now aiming to start sooner than September, but it does seem likely that the U.K. is the first place they'll head to. The lack of an additional two-week delay is probably geared to prevent further delays down the line, as Mission: Impossible 7 was already postponed from July 2021 to November 2021.
Mission: Impossible 8 will be filmed right after Mission: Impossible 7 and is slated for release a year later. Seeing as the previous installment in the franchise, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, was a huge critical and financial success, it makes perfect sense for Paramount and Cruise to push for a quicker production start. The next two Mission: Impossible films already promise to be just as action-packed as those that came before, so hopefully they won't be struck by any further delays so audiences can see them as soon as possible.
Source: Variety
