Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise have made it their mission to deliver the best thrill rides in cinema with the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, 2023's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning has been a disappointment in many aspects, even though it delivered a result at the box office that would be considered acceptable to other franchises. As the two prepare to release Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning in theaters this summer, the director discusses the poor response to the previous film – something that resulted in a total overhaul of the new film.
The Dead Reckoning was released after a long production plagued by issues, including the impact of the Covid pandemic, which caused its budget to rise to more than $300 million, so it's unlikely to generate much revenue. Due to the presence of other blockbuster films, the action thriller was able to sustain itself to avoid being a total flop, but it did not reach the expected results. According to McQuarrie, the failure of Dead Reckoning to fully succeed was the reason for Cruise's approach to the sequel. He shared in Empire magazine:
"It didn't work for everyone. There were elements that didn't work for everyone. I feel it, I hear it, and I respect it. I don't look at people and say, 'They didn't get it.' That's gonna be a cop-out. We look at it, like we do with every movie. I'll say it could be better. For everyone who doesn't, we're not going to stop."
There is still no clear answer as to whether this will be Cruise's last film in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Dead Reckoning and its sequel were originally announced as a two-part ending to the franchise, but this changed over time. The Final Reckoning certainly sounds like the final chapter, but there have been many movies with the title "The Final Chapter" that haven't really been the last, so we'll find out if this really is the end of Ethan Hunt. In fact, if The Final Reckoning makes big money, we may not have seen the last of Ethan Hunt's movies.
