While it's been somewhat expected due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, Paramount has finally decided to adjust its upcoming release calendar, which includes pushing Tom Cruise's highly anticipated Mission: Impossible 8 from next summer to Memorial Day 2025.
Mission: Impossible 8 (formerly titled Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two) is now slated to open on May 23, 2025, and has been confirmed to receive an exclusive three-week run in IMAX, which should certainly help its box office receipts.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One grossed over $567.5 million worldwide ($172.1M domestic; $395.4M foreign) this past summer, but was only able to play in IMAX for one week due to Universal's Oppenheimer opening the following week. Fortunately, however, it looks like Paramount is being proactive with the sequel and making sure its biggest upcoming film gets as much play on premium screens as it can.
Additionally, as alluded to above, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two will be retitled prior to its release in 2025, but will still pick up immediately after the events of Dead Reckoning Part One. As for what the new title could be, expect an announcement on that front sometime over the next six to twelve months, possibly even as early as next year's CinemaCon.
In addition to moving M:I 8, Paramount has also delayed the upcoming horror prequel A Quiet Place: Day One from March to June 28, 2024, and an untitled SpongeBob SquarePants film from Spring 2025 to December 19, 2025. Meanwhile, John Krasinski's IF, an upcoming fantasy-comedy starring Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds, moves up one week to May 17, 2024.
In our review of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, we said, "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is the undisputed blockbuster movie event of the summer! Tom Cruise delivers yet another action movie masterpiece, packed with jaw-dropping spectacle, pulse-pounding action, heartfelt emotion, awe-inspiring performances, and an exhilarating chemistry opposite new leading lady Hayley Atwell that’ll have you begging for more."
In addition to Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), the cast features Hayley Atwell (Grace), Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn), Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust), Vanessa Kirby (Alanna Mitsopolis/White Widow), Esai Morales (Gabriel), Pom Klementieff (Paris), Mariela Garriga (Marie), Henry Czerny (Eugene Kittridge), Shea Whigham (Jasper Briggs), Greg Tarzan Davis (Degas), Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt (Zola Mitsopolis), Cary Elwes (Denlinger), Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, and Rob Delaney.
In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One lights the fuse in theaters on July 12, with the follow-up, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, set to arrive next year on June 28, 2024.