Tom Cruise chooses to accept Mission Impossible 6

By William Hughes | September 16, 2016 | 6:42pm

Aux Features Film

Things have gotten pretty perilous for the Mission Impossible team lately, with the long-running action franchise threatening to self-destruct after pre-production on Mission Impossible 6 was shut down by contract negotiations with star Tom Cruise. Cruise—who’s been appearing in, producing on, and dangling off of the various Mission Impossible movies for going on 20 years now—apparently got into heated discussions with Paramount last month over the amount of back-end profits he receives for the films, especially in comparison to what he’s being paid by Universal to kick off its new Monsters Cinematic Universe with The Mummy.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, though, an agreement has apparently been reached, with Cruise “on the verge of closing his deal” to reprise the role of explosion-ignoring super spy Ethan Hunt. Paramount was hoping to have Mission Impossible 6 (high-tech post-colon subtitle still pending) in theaters in late 2017, but that’ll have to be pushed back thanks to the delay. Meanwhile, Christopher McQuarrie—whose well-regarded Rogue Nation was the franchise’s second-most profitable entry to date—will be returning to write and direct.