Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning concluded the long-running series of films starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, and it has fans questioning the future of the franchise and whether this is truly the last movie.
Here is why Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may be the end of the line for the Tom Cruise-led franchise.
Is Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning really the last movie, and why?
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has received strong critical acclaim, much like most of the previous installments. But no matter how successful a franchise is, it eventually needs to come to an end. For Mission: Impossible, which began with Brian De Palma’s 1996 classic, this appears to be the right point for an ending. And there are clear reasons for it.
Tom Cruise revealed it is the last movie in the franchise
The biggest hint that this is the final film in the franchise is Tom Cruise’s direct comment about it. Tom Cruise told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s the final! It’s not called ‘final’ for nothing.” This quite clearly hints that Cruise is done with the franchise. And the franchise has also reached its end with the recent movie.
Mission Impossible 7 and 8 did not meet the box office expectations
A major factor suggesting there may not be more Mission: Impossible movies is that both the seventh and eighth installments did not meet expectations at the box office. While Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One grossed $571.1 million and the final film grossed $596.5 million, both were produced on very large budgets. This means that without a significantly larger box office haul, Mission: Impossible films are no longer highly profitable.
It is tough to top the story and stunts of The Final Reckoning
The Mission: Impossible franchise has often reinvented its stakes and characters, but it likely cannot present a bigger threat than what appeared in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
With the stakes at their highest and the stunts exceeding anything fans had seen before, this movie pushed the franchise as far as it could go. Going beyond this would be very difficult, and perhaps narratively impossible.
Therefore, it makes sense to end the series at this point.
Tom Cruise may want to invest in other projects
Though Tom Cruise plans to continue acting into his 80s, Mission: Impossible films are difficult to make and require a significant amount of time and effort. The last two movies took five years to complete.
As per reports, Cruise has a major deal with Warner Bros., an untitled film with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and potential sequels to Top Gun: Maverick and Days of Thunder.
Rumors also suggest that he may be part of a space movie in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX.
So, Tom Cruise may be too busy in the coming years to work on another Mission: Impossible movie.
All this combined makes it clear that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may indeed be the end of the run.
