At one point, the Mission: Impossible franchise was a bit of a director’s showcase. Star Tom Cruise would approve of someone to take the reigns of a film featuring his Ethan Hunt and the other secret agents of the Impossible Missions Force and let them do what they do best. But now Tom Cruise has found a director who what they do best is make Mission: Impossible films. That would be Christopher McQuarrie, who has sat behind the camera on the last two Mission: Impossible films – Rogue Nation (2015) and Fallout (2018). And now he is set to do it on two more.
Variety is reporting that McQuarie has signed on to direct a new pair of M:I films. The plan is to shoot them back-to-back for release in the summers of 2021 and 2022. Paramount has scheduled the film that far ahead as star Cruise already has his Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, set for the summer 2020.
Cruise and McQuarrie also spilled the news on twitter.
Summer 2021 and Summer 2022 pic.twitter.com/V6SNvZx2La
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) January 15, 2019
Summer 2021 and Summer 2022 pic.twitter.com/V6SNvZx2La
— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) January 15, 2019
Currently, Cruise is still shooting Maverick, so McQuarrie will be diving into the scripting of the two films. Production would need begin sometime before the end of the year though, if they want to ensure that they meet that summer 2021 release date for the first film.
It’s not a surprise that Paramount wants to keep the Mission: Impossible franchise going. Even though it has run for six installments now, the most recent film earned a franchise record of $790 million worldwide.
