Release dates for the next Mission: Impossible movies are proving to be as elusive as Tom Cruise‘s spy Ethan Hunt.
Paramount Pictures has announced that the already COVID-delayed Mission: Impossible 7 has been bumped from its September 30, 2022, debut to July 14, 2023. In turn, the release of an eighth M:I film, reportedly being shot back-to-back with 7, has been moved from July 7, 2023, to June 28, 2024.
Cruise made headlines early last year for very vocally enforcing COVID safety protocols on Mission: Impossible‘s U.K. set, but with Omicron now on the rise, Paramount and co-producer Skydance Productions decided to move the films “after careful consideration.”
The seventh film in Cruise’s $3.5 billion-grossing franchise was initially set to open in July of 2020, and was moved a few times throughout the pandemic.
Cruise’s other project as producer and star, Top Gun: Maverick, had also been moved because of COVID-19, but as of yet, its new release date hasn’t changed: May 27.