On the heels of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One being eclipsed by the Barbenheimer phenomenon when it premiered in early July, the franchise’s eighth installment is not exactly off to a great start.
While the Tom Cruise-led franchise is a reliable crowd-pleaser, its recent comeback has seen more than a few setbacks. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One‘s title might be a mouthful, but its box office performance was shockingly slim, and now would-be Part Two has been delayed to account for the strikes that brought Hollywood to a standstill.
Mission: Impossible 8 new release date and title
Paramount Pictures is following in the footsteps of other major studios in choosing to delay the releases of some of its major upcoming motion pictures due to the ongoing Actors’ Strike. Mission: Impossible 8 was among the titles the entertainment company shuffled, replacing its June 28, 2024 premiere with a May 23, 2025 date. It had already been three times previously. According to Variety, the upcoming spy thriller would not have been ready by the summer of next year even if actors and producers came to an agreement today. It had been filming for a while but production completely stopped in July when the Actors’ Union went on strike.
The outlet also reports that the film, initially titled Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two will no longer sport the wordy subtitle, even if the alternative remains a mystery. In an even bigger effort to avoid its sibling film’s fate, which was thwarted by Oppenheimer‘s dominion over premium screens, this new Ethan Hunt outing has already secured three weeks of IMAX showings, Variety reveals.
Even with the name change, Mission 8 will still be a direct continuation of its predecessor. Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie will both return, alongside Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, and other franchise familiar faces.