When Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opened in 2023, it was widely considered a financial disappointment, even after earning $570.6 million worldwide (the biggest issue was that it greatly underperformed domestically).
Not helping matters, of course, was the fact its budget ballooned to a reported $291 million, a staggering sum thought to have done irreparable damage to Tom Cruise's relationship with Paramount Pictures.
The studio dropped the "Dead Reckoning Part Two" subtitle from the sequel a while ago and has instead decided to market the movie as Ethan Hunt's final adventure. Hence, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
Rumour has it Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning's budget has rocketed to $400 million amid various production delays, largely caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Thanks to Empire, we know where at least some of that money went: more insane stunts!
On the cover of the publication's next issue, we see Hunt hanging onto the side of a plane. When Cruise is involved, you know there's no green screen trickery at play...and that he almost certainly put his life at risk to pull this daring feat off.
Addressing the sequence in an interview with the site, filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie said, "There are stunts in this movie that will melt your brain. There would be a day in Africa - any day in Africa - where Tom would go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before. I truly want to puke thinking about the stress. It was intense."
Cruise added, "When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen. So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit."
Check out a new Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning in the X posts below.
"Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," reads the brief synopsis for the movie released alongside the trailer last November.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, and Frederick Schmidt.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning arrives in theaters on May 23, 2025.