When movie theater owners gathered in Las Vegas for their annual convention, CinemaCon, in August,
they were treated to behind-the-scenes footage of Tom Cruise doing what he's done for a living: risking death and defying the laws of physics to pull off some of the most spectacular stunts on the big screen.
In this example, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie of Mission: Impossible 7" discussed a scene in which the actor drove his motorcycle down a cliff in Norway. Cruise stated, "This is by far the most risky thing I've attempted," adding, "I've wanted to do it since I was a little child.
However, bringing this boyhood dream to life has been costly, given that this prank and others like it had to be carried out in the midst of a global pandemic. It's also left Paramount and Skydance Media with a huge budget and an ongoing stream of unexpected costs. Multiple insiders with knowledge of the production told Variety that "Mission: Impossible 7" cost $290 million to create, which is tens of millions more than the studio and its financial partner expected to have to pay. That astronomical price tag includes the significant tax breaks that the global production was able to take advantage of to keep expenses down. The most current installment in the series, "Mission: Impossible — Fallout," cost $190 million to make in 2018.
The budget headaches reached a crescendo last summer when “Mission: Impossible” distributor Paramount was faced with shouldering roughly $50 million in overages by itself. The issue was that co-producer Skydance had already met its cap in terms of financial contributions, according to two sources. They declined to exceed their contractual requirements, around $240 million, and pony up the additional funds that Cruise and McQuarrie said were needed to complete the movie.
The tentpole "Mission: Impossible 7" isn't the only one that's had to adjust to a new reality. These action-packed movies have huge budgets and are shot across countries and continents, posing logistical challenges at a time when the virus has proven to be so adaptable and resilient. Many big studio releases have had to swallow millions of dollars in expenditures related to implementing COVID measures and accounting for delays when outbreaks occur.
Another issue that "Mission: Impossible" and other tentpole films face is that they tend to do well in China, where "Fallout" grossed more than $180 million. However, tensions between the United States and China have affected China's desire for Hollywood films, reducing their box office receipts in the crucial market.
The plan is for the seventh and eighth films to serve as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character — a “culmination” of the entire series, as one insider described it — which has also upped the pressure on the star and McQuarrie to deliver a slam-bang farewell to the super spy. The two films were originally scheduled to shoot concurrently, but that plan was abandoned. The eighth film is about to go into production in South Africa,.
The "Mission: Impossible" films have grossed over $3.5 billion worldwide, with the third sequel "Mission: Impossible III," directed by J.J. Abrams, bringing the total to over $3.5 billion. The film, which was released in 2008, only made $398 million worldwide, making it the lowest-grossing of the bunch. Cruise bounced back in the next installment, director Brad Bird's "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol," which grossed a considerably healthier $695 million. "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" is the most successful installment in the franchise's history, grossing $791 million worldwide and introducing meme-worthy characters like Henry "disappearing mustache" Cavill and Vanessa Kirby from "The Crown."
