The seventh installment in Tom Cruise’s epic action franchise has a brand spanking new title: Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
We learned awhile back that this film would be split into two parts to give fans the epic conclusion they deserve, and now, after months of just calling it Mission Impossible 7, we can finally call it by its intriguing proper name: Dead Reckoning.
RELATED: MAN-THING MAY DEBUT IN WEREWOLF BY NIGHT SPECIAL FOR MARVEL
The subtitle is perfectly in line with the series’ penchant for attention-grabbing names, the previous ones being (in reverse order): Fallout, Rogue Nation, and Ghost Protocol. While we still don’t know what narrative obstacles will befall super agent Ethan Hunt and his wisecracking spy team, we know from Cruise’s appearance at last year’s CinemaCon that he was most excited about getting to drive a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway, which he called “far and away the most dangerous thing I’ve attempted”.
Mission Impossible Takes Things To A New Level
Anyone who’s followed Cruise knows he’s like a moth to the flame when it comes to performing dangerous stunts for his action movies. Like Jackie Chan in his heyday, Cruise does as much of the action himself as he physically can, pushing himself to awe-inspiring new limits every time for the sake of our entertainment. It’s funny to look back to 1996 when many expressed skepticism towards Cruise leading an action film (at that point being known more for his dramatic prowess in films like The Color of Money, Rain Man, and A Few Good Men among others).
But, like many in Hollywood who have gone above and beyond what was expected of them, Cruise provided a paranoid and intense performance in the original Mission Impossible while also showing he was more than capable of kicking butt and escaping certain death onscreen. That film was huge box office success, kick-starting the beloved action franchise into high gear and cycling through various directors and earning both humongous box office returns and ever-increasing critical praise for the creativity of its action sequences.
It’s also worth noting that, before Rogue Nation in 2015, every film in the franchise was directed by a different person. While that choice would hinder some franchises, star and longtime series producer Tom Cruise once lobbied for a different director on every installment so that whoever came in would have renewed energy and vigor about it rather than growing tired over time.
RELATED: ALL THE EXCITING DISNEY, MARVEL, AND 20TH CENTURY CINEMACON 2022 DETAILS
That mindset changed following Rogue Nation, which saw Cruise’s friend and frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie take over the director’s chair for every entry in the series onward. Their history goes back to the World War II drama Valkyrie, in which McQuarrie was involved on the writing staff and would follow Cruise onto 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, the later M: I sequels, 2017’s ill-fated reboot of The Mummy, served as a producer on Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and serves as a writer and producer on Tom Cruise’s upcoming Paramount sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Maverick will see Cruise re-team with another collaborator in director Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed him in the 2013 sci-fi film Oblivion.
Both Maverick and Mission Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One were pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the latter also having gotten in the news recently over Tom Cruise and Paramount’s discussions over its release plan. Cruise has proven vehemently against a same-day release strategy on streaming and in theaters for the film, and while Paramount had previously hinted that they were transitioning away form theatrical releases, their recent successes with The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 seem to have changed that tune.
As of this writing, Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One is slated to arrive in theaters July 14, 2023 and Top Gun: Maverick will fly in on May 27, 2022. We at The Illuminerdi will keep you updated on more news on both films as it becomes available. Here’s hoping both honor their iconic predecessors with a bang.
What do you think of the new title for Mission Impossible 7? Where would you like to see the story go from here? Have you seen the original Mission Impossible television series? What’s your favorite Mission Impossible film installment? Who’s your favorite character in the franchise? Let us know in the comments below and on our Twitter. This article will self-destruct in 10 seconds.
KEEP READING: WATCH THE HILARIOUSLY BIZARRE FULL TRAILER FOR CHIP N’ DALE: RESCUE RANGERS
Source: Variety
