Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 will no longer film back to back due to pandemic delays
Location filming on Mission: Impossible 7 has wrapped after a marathon global schedule interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, director Christopher McQuarrie posted on Instagram that production had wrapped in Abu Dhabi and he was heading ‘back to London for a few finishing touches.’
The delays due to the pandemic, however, mean that star Tom Cruise’s plan to go straight into filming an eighth Mission: Impossible movie have had to be shelved, Deadline.com reported.
A wrap: Filming on Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible-7 has been completed after a marathon production interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic (he’s seen filming in Rome in October)
M:I-7 is slated for release on November 19.
But before that, Cruise has another major movie opening – his sequel to Top Gun.
Top Gun: Maverick is opening in theatres on July 2 and Cruise will be required to be available to promote the movie worldwide.
That means he can’t start making the eighth movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise straight away as he had wanted to.
The eighth film has been listed by Paramount for release in November 4, 2022 but it looks likely that that date will now have to be pushed back.
Mission accomplished: The news was announced by director Christopher McQuarrie on Instagram Sunday. He’s pictured on set with Cruise and actress Hayley Atwell on October 13
Nearing completion: McQuarrie posted a stunning shot and said filming had wrapped after a stint in Abu Dhabi and he was heading to London to put a ‘few finishing touches’ to the project
Filming on Mission: Impossible 7 was supposed to start in Italy in February 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it until July 2020.
Filming began in the UK, moved to Norway and then back to Italy where it ground to a halt once again after 12 crew members tested positive for the coronavirus.
Co-starring Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson and Hayley Atwell, the plot for the latest adventure by Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has been kept firmly under wraps.
Hitch: Cruise had planned to make Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 back-to-back but that’s not possible due to the pandemic delays and the fact his new Top Gun movie opens in July
Meanwhile in Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise reprises his role of Navy aviator Pete Mitchell.
First seen in the 1986 blockbuster directed by the late Tony Scott, Mitchell returns as a test pilot who is still willing to push the boundaries.
He is faced to confront his past as he trains new recruits for a dangerous mission that will demand the ultimate sacrifice.
Take my breath away: In Top Gun: Maverick, set to open in theatres on July 2, Cruise reprises his role as Navy aviator Pete Mitchell from the 1986 blockbuster directed by the late Tony Scott