Paramount Pictures has officially fired the starting pistol on advance sales for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth and most ambitious entry in Tom Cruise’s long-running espionage saga. To celebrate ticket launch day, the studio unleashed a marketing barrage that includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes, a pair of crisp production stills, and a new suite of character posters showcasing the film’s core IMF team and its shadowy adversaries. The promotional drop arrives just as Cruise rounds out nearly five years of nonstop work on the two-part finale, which director Christopher McQuarrie has promised will “pull every pin” in the franchise’s action arsenal.
In an interview with Fandango timed to the ticket rollout, Cruise radiated his trademark enthusiasm. “I can’t wait for people to see the whole thing,” he said. “The level of filmmaking from our entire cast and crew—and what McQuarrie accomplishes here—is exceptional. There are sequences in this movie that have never been attempted anywhere, and the emotional journey is equally daring. It’s rich in character, rich in storytelling, and it took every ounce of skill we had to get it on the big screen for audiences.”
The newly released featurettes make good on that promise. The first clip, “Ice Run,” details Cruise’s multi-week training regimen in Svalbard, Norway, where he practiced free-climbing frozen cliff faces before anchoring safety lines for a night shoot involving blizzard-level winds and sub-zero temperatures. The second, “Plane to Train,” chronicles an aerial-to-locomotive stunt shot on location in the Italian Alps; Cruise begins strapped to the wing struts of a vintage biplane and ends sprinting across the roof of a steam locomotive barreling toward a collapsed bridge. Practical effects supervisor Wade Eastwood notes that the entire sequence was captured without green screens, relying on three helicopters, two drone teams, and a camera car rigged with gyrostabilized lenses normally reserved for Formula 1 broadcasts.
The pair of stills released alongside the videos offer quieter intrigue. One shows Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) perched on a half-submerged iceberg beside what fans believe is the hatch to the sunken submarine Sevastopol. The other finds returning foe Gabriel (Esai Morales) standing inside an abandoned cathedral, holding a data key identical to the one introduced in Dead Reckoning Part One. Costume designer Jill Taylor confirmed on social media that the cathedral’s stained-glass windows were custom-built practical elements rather than digital inserts, a choice intended to refract real light onto the actors’ faces.
For filmgoers deciding how to experience Hunt’s latest high-wire exploits, Paramount is releasing The Final Reckoning across every premium format imaginable. IMAX remains the flagship option, offering vertically expanded imagery in select sequences and an upgraded 12-channel sound mix. Dolby Cinema sessions will feature HDR laser projection and Atmos overhead audio, while 4DX screenings incorporate seat motion, wind blasts, and water misters synced to on-screen action. Cinemark XD auditoriums, meanwhile, promise wall-to-wall screens and 35 trillion colors powered by Barco laser systems. Standard digital presentations round out the slate for viewers who prefer a traditional setup—or whose local theaters lack premium auditoriums.
With marketing momentum building and the fan base primed by last week’s character posters, analysts expect brisk pre-sales, particularly in IMAX locations where Cruise’s stunt work has historically driven sell-outs. If early projections hold, The Final Reckoning could challenge franchise record-holder Mission: Impossible – Fallout for the series’ biggest domestic opening. One thing is certain: Ethan Hunt’s farewell lap will play out on the largest screens possible, exactly as Cruise and McQuarrie intended.
Check out the new "Filming in IMAX" and "Iconic Running Landmarks" featurettes below, and keep scrolling for all the new images!
Plus, if you are attending the IMAX Opening Day Fan Event on Thursday May 22 at 2 PM, you'll receive this exclusive dual-sided Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning collector’s print:
In our review of the previous installment, Dead Reckoning, 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. This is one Mission we’ll always choose to accept! Bring on Part Two!"
In addition to Cruise, the supporting cast features Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger; Agent Carter; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible; Pulp Fiction; Dawn of the Dead), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead; Star Trek; Mission: Impossible), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown; Pieces of a Woman; Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Esai Morales (Ozark; La Bamba; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning; Westworld), Mariela Garriga (Bloodline; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning; Y: The Last Man), Henry Czerny (Mission: Impossible; Ready or Not; Revenge), Holt McCallany (Mindhunter; Fight Club; Wrath of Man), Janet McTeer (Ozark; Albert Nobbs; Jessica Jones), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation; The Last of Us; Devs), Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso; Game of Thrones; Hocus Pocus 2), Angela Bassett (Black Panther; What's Love Got to Do with It; 9-1-1), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire; Joker; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Greg Tarzan Davis (Top Gun: Maverick; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning; Grey’s Anatomy), Charles Parnell (Top Gun: Maverick; Transformers: Age of Extinction; The Last Ship), and Frederick Schmidt (Angel Has Fallen; Mission: Impossible – Fallout; Supergirl).
McQuarrie helmed the feature, with a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One; Ithaca; Band of Brothers).
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits theaters and IMAX on May 23!
Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.