EXCLUSIVE: Ethan Hunt has accepted another mission. Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions have set Tom Cruise in a deal 
to star in and produce a fifth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Both Paramount and Skydance have confirmed this, but they are not saying who’s writing and directing, or when they are targeting release. I’ve heard all along that the director will be Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise’s frequent collaborator who most recently wrote and directed Jack Reacher, the adaptation of the Lee Child novels that starred Cruise. The writer/director will be finalized shortly, and that person will develop the next installment with Cruise and JJ Abrams‘ Bad Robot. Abrams directed the third film in the series and he and Cruise reignited the franchise by hatching the Brad Bird-directed Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol, a film that added Jeremy Renner to the mix and saw Cruise sky-walking across the exterior glass 124 floors up on a skyscraper in Dubai. That film had a $145 million budget and a worldwide gross of nearly $700 million, the most a Cruise film has ever done.
David Ellison’s Skydance Productions will once again co-finance the film with Paramount, a role it also serves the same role on Jack Reacher. That film is in early talks for a sequel as well on a $60 million budget film that grossed $216 million worldwide. That’s a good start for a series backed by the fan base for Child’s novel series. People seem forever to be debating whether Cruise still has it. Audiences turned out for Oblivion, a $120 million budget film that grossed over $220 million worldwide. While it’s unclear what will happen to that Top Gun sequel that Cruise and Tony Scott were working on when the director died tragically, he is positioned to continue the M:I franchise, plus Jack Reacher, and he’s starring with Armie Hammer in the Guy Ritchie-directed The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which the film’s backers at Warner Bros hope will launch another franchise. Nobody works harder on the set or in promoting these films than Cruise. When I interviewed him for Playboy last year, Cruise confessed that early in his career, he begged studios to let him promote around the globe, and it was mainly because he wanted to travel and see all the places in the world he’d observed in movies. Back then, studios were mostly concerned with domestic ticket sales and it was always a discussion. He got his way and would take a couple of days in each country between interviews to see the sights. It had a profound impact on global ticket sales and became a template for how other globally successful stars like Will Smith conducted themselves and you could see the difference between the overseas grosses of the actors who took part, and others who had to be dragged out of the country kicking and screaming. Studios now beg actors like Cruise to stump in every major territory possible. So is Cruise still viable? Mark me down as a yes, absolutely. He’s repped by CAA.
Get Deadline news and alerts FREE to your inbox...
Is no one else tired of Tom Cruise and Tom Cruise vehicles? He lost me at…
Nope. He’s insane, but he makes great films. I could not care less about his religion or whatever the tabloid says. MI4 was great, Oblivion is great, Jack Reacher was great. Willing to bet that whatever he does next will be great as well.
Thanks Tom Cruise’s assistant. OBLIVION was awful, worst film of the year. And I had no interest in JACK REACH-A-AROUND. MI4 was disappointing, so no interest in MI5.
Worst film of the year? LOL. You really are oblivious.
M:I 4 was great, so looking forward to the next installment. Enjoyed Reacher, too. But, I do think he ought to go after a meaty dramatic role, or maybe a comedy, to mix things up a little. His “cameo” in Tropic Thunder was the best part about that movie.
are you out of your mind ? MI4 was awesome and how can you say that it was disappointing …
Tommy Girl’s ‘Oblivion’ dropped to No 4 in it’s 3rd week…. a massive 67% drop [more than any other film in the top 20]…. it made less than $6M and it’s total gross is less than $76M and still shy $45M of it’s production costs…. give you an idea a “proper” Blockbuster, Iron Man 3, made $175M opening this weekend. To all intents and purposes Oblivion is now a bona fide failure. Cruise is even going to China to (desperately) promote it.
Jack Reacher fared worse and went to DVD almost immediately [a sure sign Hollywood regard it as a failure].
this article asks “So is Cruise still viable?” and gave the answer “Mark me down as a yes, absolutely. He’s repped by CAA.”
Mark me down as a no – the US Box Office figures don’t lie no matter how you try and spin ‘worldwide’ figures.
Oblivion to date has made $228,072,918; Fact
While Haters might manage to poison some gullible people in the end they will be miserable all their lives because they have to live with themselves and poison themselves more than anyone else.
That’s a big 10-4!
Agree. Agree. Agree.
^ No, and I am tired of people bagging on the actor who literally has the best work ethic in the entire industry. On an acting basis, he is the epitome of a professional and that should be greatly appreciated in an environment where people constantly treat others as if they are beneath them. Say what you want about Cruise, but the way he conducts himself as an actor is more than admirable.
Completely agree, and we’re generally not fans of the Hollywood crowd, nor a Cruise worshipper. He’s dumb enough to get suckered into the Scientology cult, but that’s far outweighed by his work ethic and relatively-good acting chops. Any name actor who’d hang himself out a 124th story window to do his own stunts for real has got our respect.
Tom Cruise is an excellent actor. Could care less about is religion, or love life.
You mean “couldn’t”
I am tired of him constantly doing action movies. I want to see Tom Cruise act again. This is ridiculous !
He lost ME at that ever-so-popular “Tom Cruise sprints with knees high from a missile/tornado/nuclear blast/whatever” thing.
So ridiculous. And maybe they should keep bouncing him off cars from said mayhem and into an effortless tuck-and-roll?
hey – hey – HEY.
Everyone loves it when the cruise runs like a nutter. Everyone. There are no exceptions. He may be barmy, but I’ve been watching that man pelt around for a quarter century now. It never gets old.
I believe some of his finest running was in the firm. There really was some quality cruise running in that film. he was holding leather satchels at times too. Kind of added a new dimension to see the bag getting a hammering during the cruise running frenzy. good clasps there.
Crusie is the best bankable actor in Hollywood and has been for some years. Over $8billion takings and still going. People just dont get him or want to. Take Oblivion… great movie unlike the other sci fi movies with strange machines etc this movie was more about human beings and the planets and was good to watch. Jack Reacher was a great start to the franchise and MI5 will be a block buster. Tom now grosses more money overseas than America so he is clearly popular world-wide.Best work ethic in Hollywood and a superstar.
SO SICK of Tom Cruise’s movies where we have to see 50,000 closeups of his face.
Regardless of his personal issues and being a cult-member, he provides top-of-the-line entertainment. I am entertained by his films and will pay for it. He’s not playing a stupid comic adaptation wearing a costume. I don’t care how bad his acting is, he still provides entertainment and fun ride in his films. Give the man a break. Take Travolta and Cruise, same “church”, different results. I like to see him in a movie like Mud. If he was going from chase’em and shoot’em to a film like Mud, he’d be very rounded in his performance. I just hope MI:5 would be as good as 4, which was the best of the series.
REACHER was very disappointing and I’d be nervous about handing the reigns of a much bigger movie to the likes of McQuarrie. His direction was very hackneyed and clunky, weighed down by ersatz tough talk dialogue. Nevertheless, Cruise plays his cards right as he continues perpetuating himself as an international genre and action star.
I respect Cruise both as an actor and a producer. He consistently makes movies that I want to see, and he’s been doing that, with a few misfires, for nearly thirty years. Ghost Protocol was flat out great entertainment and I would expect the next in the franchise to be so too. Way to go.
Of course Cruise still has it, but the quality of his films continues its secular decline. And why? He doesn’t need the money. Why can’t he choose to do something like any of the following, all of which are among my favorite movies: Eyes Wide Shut, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Minority Report, Collateral, Risky Business, Rain Man, or the original Mission: Impossible? I acknowledge that I just listed movies by Kubrick, P.T. Anderson, Spielberg, Crowe, Mann, etc. but that’s my point. Cruise can be choosy if he likes, so why the middling crap of the last few yrs?
Compare my list to Jack Reacher, which was poorly written and executed; or to MI4, which was decent but sloppy.
Come on man, take a risk!!! Life isn’t just money.
Is this guy the last movie superstar?
I don’t know or care about his private life, his goofy Scientology stuff, whatever. His movies consistently deliver.
They’re never bad, they’re usually good, and sometimes they are truly outstanding.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 5: BREAK FREE OF THE SLAVE LABOR CULT
I won’t contribute a dime to a Tom Cruise film due to his prominent membership in a cult that turns people into slave labor zombies, destroys their mental health, and estranges them from their families.
Celeb Scientologists have no idea what life is like for the non-celeb variety. Well, at least Paul Haggis found out…
Amen!!!! I am with you.
Michael Mann direction a mission impossible film could be stunning.
Genius! Collateral is my favorite Tom Cruise movie, re-uniting them for a juicy MI feature would be_AMAZING.
I think I’d care more about the next MI film if I were involved in it.
Has Tom Cruise aged since 2001?
Haha! I sure hope not — I want to see at least another 20 Tom Cruise films.
Oblivion was terrible and isn’t even going to hit 100mil in the states. It will make some money because of overseas numbers but it still isn’t some overwhelming hit.
He is still one of the biggest stars today but it’s clear that his box office prowess is in decline. It happens to all older actors so it’s not a big deal.
It’s been announced McQuarrie is writing and directing a remake of ICE STATION ZEBRA for MGM, which isn’t a good idea. Considering how JACK REACHER was lackluster, it is a good idea not to have him direct the next MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. If true, Cruise is showing how smart he is.
Apparently you missed the part where you’re not supposed to impersonate anyone here.
Great actor – Jack Reacher was much better than it was touted IMO. Oblivion on the otherhand was visually stunning, but the story sucked. Same director that did Tron and same exact review from me – boring – with a weak story, but great to look at.
Some comments cutting down alot of Tom’s recent work minus Ghost Protocal – my take you can’t hit it out of the park every time, but if you stack up his work against any other in Hollywood current or 10-20 years ago you’ll see Tom Cruise is probably one of the most underated actor of all time.
The issue with the current Tom Cruise is the script choice.
Tom Cruise used to be a humane actor, if you know what I mean; now he is basically a robot. All he does is run and run faster, then shoot. Some reaction shots, soundtrack deafening. Is this really interesting? What about the story (which you all call plot), what about dialogue, even just a little kick in the ear for us who still like to listen to words, as opposed to bombs explosions more bombs and then some bigger explosions?
Spot on!!!! Thank you!
The last movie superstar? Please. RDJ pulls in far more money now and is actually an actor. There are others, but this example more than proves my point.
McQuarrie is a VERY talented writer. He can do great things on the page.
as for a director, I had high hopes for Jack Reacher, because I honestly thought, how hard would that be to mess up. And through no fault of the script or the actors was it a boring movie, it simply had the most boring, uninspired, “safe” direction of any film I had ever seen. It was just blah in almost all ways shapes and forms.
McQuarrie to write MI5? So in. To direct? …I’d rather they bring back ANY previous director. Or get someone new and inspired. Hell, how cool would a Shane Black spy movie be? (Sorry, I might still be on a Shane Black high post Iron Man 3 — really hope I don’t have to wait 8 years for his next flick).
Real movie stars used to do more than run for 2 hours pr. movie. Tom Cruise realised he´s just not in the league with the big guys, so he runs. A lot of running makes a bunch of dollars, even in China: makes a movie star. M
I just don’t get it….TC is in his 50′s, and shorter than my wife…what moron (or morons) has decided that he’s the one to save the world? Over and over and over again? It just goes to show you how easy the masses (or muppets as Goldman Sachs would say) are to manipulate and appease.
No wonder movie attendance, DVD sales, and TV ratings continue to drop year after year, as the population continues to increase.
I’m kind of tired of homoerotic gun porn…it got to hurt locker levels in MI5…it would be better if they just come out and try some acting again…
Here’s a thought: How about doing a M:I that has more than a passing resemblance to the original series. None of the movies have come anywhere close to the cleverness of tv version. Also, I think U.N.C.L.E. would have been a good vehicle for a Tom Cruise / Brad Pitt team-up, if that were possible. Just thinking out loud.
Does this 80′s Show’ Hollywood franchise slum —-ever have an end?
Simply put, Tom needs to mix it up. All action and no talk makes Cruise a very dull actor.
A total professional who has never taken his celebrity for granted and who has always treated his employers, colleagues and fans with respect.
Isn’t he getting a little old for these roles? At some point he is going to have to transition to more age appropriate roles if he wants to continue to act.