With over two years gone since production first began on the sequel, Simon Pegg has a very exciting Mission: Impossible 8 filming update. The eighth installment in the Tom Cruise-led action franchise was meant to be shot back-to-back with its predecessor, Dead Reckoning, though this would change and production finally kicked off in March 2022. Following a hiatus due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, filming would resume in March 2024, with set videos and photos teasing some of the action to come.
Pegg recently took to his Instagram (via CinemaBlend) with a video post on his Story confirming that he has wrapped filming on Mission: Impossible 8. The actor expressed his enthusiasm for the work he and his co-stars put into the next installment of the hit action franchise, celebrating it as a “f—-ng incredible spectacle” and sharing his excitement for audiences to see it. See what Pegg shared below:
I just wrapped my last day on Mission Impossible and said a farewell to everybody. And we started shooting the first part of this story in September 2020, and here we are in July 2024. What a journey has been. And what a f——ng incredible spectacle this next film is going to be, I’m so excited for you to see it. But until then, Benji Dunn signing off.
Mission: Impossible 8 Has A Lot To Overcome If There’s To Be A Future
Despite netting the franchise’s second-best score from critics and best from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning proved as something of an outlier for Cruise’s action franchise, as it became the lowest-grossing installment since 2006’s Mission: Impossible III. While competition from the viral Barbenheimer phenomenon was certainly a factor, the movie was deemed to have lost Paramount a reported $100 million due to its massive budget of $291 million, one of the largest in cinema history. See how Dead Reckoning compares to the other Mission: Impossible movies on Rotten Tomatoes and at the box office below:
Name
RT Critics Score
RT Audience Score
Box Office
Mission: Impossible
66%
71%
$457.7 Million
Mission: Impossible 2
56%
42%
$546.4 Million
Mission: Impossible III
71%
69%
$398.5 Million
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
76%
$694.7 Million
Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
94%
87%
$682.7 Million
Mission: Impossible — Fallout
97%
88%
$791.7 Million
96%
94%
$567.5 Million
Given the franchise was previously enjoying some of its best box office figures to date, it does seem likely that Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning‘s underwhelming box office was something of a fluke and came from the competition it faced at the box office. With that said, though, it does then prove concerning that recent reports have said the budget for the next installment has crossed the $300 million mark. Much like Dead Reckoning, Mission: Impossible 8 is facing some hefty competition in its May 2025 release date.
Alongside Mission: Impossible 8 , May 2025 will bring the releases of Thunderbolts* and Karate Kid , while the first week of June will also bring John Wick Presents: Ballerina .
While the next installment could see a bigger boost at the box office following Dead Reckoning‘s cliffhanger ending, Mission: Impossible 8‘s box office will be important for whether the franchise continues beyond the movie. Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie have previously expressed interest in keeping Ethan Hunt’s adventures going, despite initial plans for the seventh and eighth movies to serve as a send-off for the character. Even if a ninth movie doesn’t happen, it seems clear that Mission: Impossible 8 is aiming to be the biggest and boldest installment yet.
Source: Simon Pegg/Instagram (via CinemaBlend)
