Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a 2018 American action spy film written, produced, and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. It is the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series, and the second film to be directed by McQuarrie following the 2015 film Rogue Nation, making him the first director to direct more than one film in the franchise. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin, all of whom reprise their roles from the previous films. Henry Cavill, Vanessa Kirby, and Angela Bassett join the franchise. In the film, Ethan Hunt and his team must track down missing plutonium while being monitored by the Apostles after a mission goes wrong.
Talks for a sixth Mission: Impossible film began before releasing Rogue Nation in 2015. The film was officially announced in November 2015, with McQuarrie confirming his return as writer and director, as well as producer alongside J. J. Abrams and Cruise, the seventh collaboration between the pair. Jeremy Renner confirmed that he was unable to appear in the film because of scheduling conflicts with Avengers: Endgame.
Filming took place from April 2017 to March 2018 in Paris, London, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates. Production was notably put on hold for two months following an injury to Cruise in August 2017.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout had its world premiere in Paris on July 12, 2018, and was released in the United States on July 27, 2018; it was the first in the series to be released in RealD 3D, and also had an IMAX release. It grossed $791 million worldwide, becoming the eighth highest grossing film of 2018, the highest-grossing film in the franchise after surpassing Ghost Protocol, and Cruise’s highest-grossing film, an achievement held until the release of Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. The film was praised for its directing, writing, cinematography, action sequences, stunts, musical score, and acting and is considered by many critics to be the best installment in the franchise.
Two sequels, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Part Two, are scheduled to be released in July 2023 and June 2024, respectively, both directed by McQuarrie.
Plot.
Two years after Solomon Lane’s capture, the remnants of the Syndicate have reorganized as a terrorist group known as the Apostles. They are linked to an extremist known as John Lark, who is attempting to acquire stolen plutonium cores to use in a nuclear weapon. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is assigned to recover the plutonium by any means necessary. He arranges a meeting to purchase the cores, but fails when his attempt to save teammate Luther Stickell allows agents of arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis to seize the plutonium. The IMF team later captures nuclear weapons expert Nils Delbruuk, whom the CIA believes is building weapons for Lark. Using a fake broadcast of teammate Benji Dunn posing as CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, they trick Delbruuk into unlocking a phone he used to communicate with Lark. Furious at the IMF’s failure to secure the plutonium, CIA Director Erika Sloane instructs Special Activities Division Agent August Walker to accompany Hunt on a mission to retrieve it. Hunt and Walker infiltrate a Paris nightclub where Lark is supposed to purchase the cores from Mitsopolis.
They track a man they suspect to be Lark, but after an intense fight in the restroom, the man is killed by MI6 agent Ilsa Faust. Hunt assumes the identity of Lark and meets with Mitsopolis, but the meeting is cut short when hitmen attack them.
In exchange for the plutonium, Mitsopolis tasks Hunt with extracting Lane from an armored convoy moving through Paris; she provides one of the cores as a down payment. Hunt and Walker preemptively attack the convoy to prevent Mitsopolis and her brother Zola from killing local police. Ramming Lane’s vehicle into water, they lead police and Mitsopolis’s men on a chase while Benji and Luther secure Lane. Faust reappears and attempts to kill Lane to prove her loyalty to MI6, but Hunt and Lane escape her. Mitsopolis then instructs Hunt to deliver Lane to London.
At a London safe house, IMF Secretary Hunley orders Hunt to stop the mission and turn himself in after receiving doctored evidence implicating Hunt as Lark.
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The team trick Walker into admitting he is the real Lark and inform Sloane, who sends a CIA unit to take everyone into custody. Unbeknownst to Sloane, the unit has been infiltrated by the Apostles and Walker signals them to attack. Walker kills Hunley and Hunt pursues him to an elevator, where Walker tells him that he must turn himself in and admit he’s Lark or he will kill his former wife Julia.
The team track Lane and Walker to a medical camp over the Siachen Glacier. Ilsa deduces that Lane is planning to detonate the nuclear bombs at the medical camp, contaminating the water supply of India, Pakistan, and China. The bombs are linked by a failsafe; any attempt to defuse one bomb without also disarming the detonator will automatically trigger the other.
Pre-production.
On May 23, 2015, The Tracking Board reported that Paramount Pictures was developing a sixth Mission: Impossible film, with Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg returning to produce, along with Don Granger and Matt Grimm as executive producers, and Elizabeth Raposo overseeing development.[6] On July 28, 2015, Cruise confirmed on The Daily Show that a sixth film was already being developed, and told its host Jon Stewart that the filming would “probably” commence in summer 2016. On August 2, 2015, Paramount executive Rob Moore told Variety that the sequel was already in the works, stating that they were “very happy to be developing this movie with Tom,” and “there has to be another movie.” On November 19, 2015, it was announced that Paramount had again hired Christopher McQuarrie to write the film, while it was possible that he would also direct again. The studio was moving fast, with plans to begin shooting in August 2016. On November 30, 2015, McQuarrie confirmed through his Twitter account that he would be back for directing duty as well, and also produce the film along with Cruise.
Filming.
Filming was slated to start in Paris on April 10, 2017. Other locations included London, New Zealand and Norway. Filming officially began on April 8. Some of the filming also took place in New Zealand in July 2017. The municipality of Forsand in Norway allowed the closing of Preikestolen (‘Pulpit Rock’) for a time in autumn for the film’s shoot; only crew members and cast were allowed to approach the mountain for nine consecutive days. They also were allowed up to 50 helicopter landings per day. The scenes set in the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir were shot in New Zealand. Director Christopher McQuarrie said that he wanted the climax of the film to be set in a more “politically complex” location than New Zealand, so he chose to set this sequence in Kashmir. In August 2017, Cruise injured his right leg on the London set during filming.
Following the accident, the studio announced it would halt production for at least nine weeks for Cruise’s broken ankle and other injuries to heal, but released a statement saying that they would be keeping the July 2018 release date for the film. The injury resulted in a cost of around $80 million for the studio because they had to pay the cast and crew for the eight-week hiatus so they would not take another job. However, the injury and subsequent costs were offset by insurance. They did not count against the film’s final budget. Filming resumed in early October 2017, with Cruise spotted on the set seven weeks after his initial injury and two weeks earlier than initially planned.
Marketing, Release, Home media.
The first trailer was released on February 4, 2018, during Super Bowl LII, and a second one on May 16, 2018. Marketing spent a total of $140 million on global promotion and advertisements. Mission: Impossible – Fallout was released in the United States and Canada on July 27, 2018, by Paramount in RealD 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D, and August 31, 2018 in China. The film premiered in Paris on July 12, 2018. The film was released in India with some edits to exclude any mention of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Mission: Impossible – Fallout was released for digital download on November 20, 2018 and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 4, 2018. The digital and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes, a deleted scenes montage, an isolated score, and three commentary tracks. The film is also available in 3D on certain VOD services around the world.RELATED:
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Box office.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout grossed $220.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $571 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $791.1 million, against a production budget of $178 million, becoming the highest-grossing Mission: Impossible film. In the United States and Canada, Fallout was released alongside Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, and was projected to gross $48–65 million in its opening weekend, with some estimates going as high as $75 million. It opened in 4,386 theaters, the most ever for the franchise and the seventh-widest release of all time. The film made $6 million from Thursday night previews (including $1 million from IMAX screenings), the highest of the series, a record for Cruise, and a 50% increase from Rogue Nation’s $4 million. It went on to debut to $61.2 million, the best of the series and the second-highest of Cruise’s career. It made $35.3 million in its second weekend to remain in first and marked the best sophomore frame of the franchise.
The film made $19.4 million in its third weekend, finishing second behind newcomer The Meg.
In other territories, the film was projected to debut to $75–80 million from 36 countries, for an estimated total global opening of around $135 million. It made $15 million on its first day, including $2.8 million in South Korea. The film ended up overperforming, debuting at $92 million overseas for a worldwide total of $153.5 million. Its largest markets were China ($181 million), South Korea ($24.9 million), the United Kingdom ($9.5 million), and India ($8.2 million). By its third weekend of release, the most significant markets outside the US were: South Korea ($46.4 million), the UK ($22.4 million), India ($13.5 million), Taiwan ($11.9 million), Mexico ($10.8 million), Brazil ($9.6 million) and UAE ($6.4 million).