Once upon a time, Mission: Impossible 7 was set for release this past July. How badly did the pandemic affected production? It’s now September, and the film still hasn’t finished shooting; Paramount recently filing a $100 million lawsuit against the insurers after seven separate shutdowns.
The bad news keeps coming for Tom Cruise’s return as Ethan Hunt, which has now been delayed once again. The latest installment in the long-running franchise got locked in for a May 2022 bow for a while, but after the studio reshuffled the calendar once more as the Delta variant surges, we won’t be seeing the actor and producer’s latest array of daredevil stunts until September 30th.
The theatrical industry is still struggling to find any level of consistency after 18 months and counting in the doldrums, and just when things are starting to return to normal after a succession of big budget blockbusters land during the summer, we’re back to watching many high profile titles get further and further away.
Cruise may have gone viral for losing his sh*t at a couple of crew members caught breaking the on-set health and safety protocols, but he’s explained that he fought hard to keep Mission: Impossible 7 running during the darkest days of the COVID-19 crisis so the crew could retain an income when the entire world was in a state of virtual lockdown.
Based on the quality of Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and Fallout, Mission: Impossible 7 is surely going to be well worth the wait when it finally arrives over twelve months from now.