Tom Cruise Returns for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Usually, eighth movies in a franchise feel like rote exercises, but Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible saga has gotten bigger and wilder with every chapter. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning lands in India on May 17, 2025, led by Cruise himself and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. This will be the first time fans in India get the blockbuster on screens days ahead of its U.S. release. What makes this one extra interesting? It’s being billed as Ethan Hunt’s last global chase—against 'The Entity,' a rogue AI threatening to turn every nation on its head.
After the huge cliffhanger left at the end of Dead Reckoning Part One, folks were left speculating for nearly two years thanks to industry delays. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike hit Hollywood hard, pushing original plans from a 2022 debut all the way to 2025. That gap only cranked the hype up even further, especially after clips from early festival screenings started dropping online.
Massive Cast, Festive Premieres, and What’s Next for Cruise
Action franchises love their familiar faces, and this installment is no exception. Alongside Tom Cruise’s adrenaline-junkie hero Ethan Hunt, you’ll see Hayley Atwell (who got some of the biggest cheers at the Cannes premiere), Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, and Pom Klementieff. All these returning stars bring their signature charisma and banter, providing both continuity and fun new twists for longtime fans.
The movie kicked off its global tour with a premiere in Tokyo on May 5, quickly followed by a glitzy red-carpet showing at Cannes on May 14, 2025. Critics haven’t been shy about their excitement. With an impressive 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and decent buzz on Metacritic (that’s a 68 for the numbers crowd), early reviews zero in on the impeccable stunts and relentless pacing. If you’re wondering what kind of numbers the movie is expected to pull, box office watchers are eyeing a hefty $80–110 million haul in the U.S. during its Memorial Day weekend.
Cruise, ever the workhorse, isn’t slowing down after this supposed finale. He’s mulling over new sequels for Top Gun: Maverick and even dusting off Days of Thunder for a reboot. Also in the pipeline—a wildcard collaboration with Alejandro Iñárritu, director of The Revenant, for a project set to land in 2026. And as much as this Mission: Impossible is being touted as Ethan Hunt’s swan song, Cruise keeps the door open for more spy shenanigans. Don’t be surprised if he straps himself to another airplane sometime in the future.
