Corona | Coming Attractions

To promote the home video release of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, director Brad Bird was asked if he would come back to direct the fifth Mission: Impossible movie. This was his reply:

"No, I think that one of the things that’s fun about the series is that they always pull in a different director and try to get a different kind of take on the premise. I’d probably be open to looking at it, but I think that part of one of the successes of the franchises is that they’re always reassessing it with a new director. That was one of the things that attracted me to it. It’s not a franchise where it was about dismissing your style in order to get the style of the franchise. It was more about [having] each director influence the franchise. Because whatever you think about the Mission: Impossible films, they don’t look like they were made by the same person. They’re the same premise and the same lead actor and all of that, but they feel like four distinctly different movies, style-wise."

- Crave Online. Comment on this Scoop (1)

What a difference $676 million dollars will make. That's how much Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol has earned globally, making it the highest-grossing picture in the franchise based on global office as well as the highest-grossing movie in star Tom Cruise's career. Domestically, M:I 4 is less than $8 million behind Mission: Impossible II's $215 mil domestic haul.

The Mission: Impossible movie franchise was on life support two years ago. After the mediocre ticket sales for Mission: Impossible III, it took the investing power of David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, to make Ghost Protocol. After two decades of doing business together, Paramount Pictures was wary of doing more business with Tom after his Oprah couch jumping, Matt Lauer-Scientology meltdown cooled off the audience. That's why when Ghost Protocol finally came together, the decision was made to include Jeremy Renner in it as a way of passing the hero baton and exiting Cruise from the series.

But now after M:I 4's great performance, the CEO of Viacom has told his shareholders that Paramount will make Mission: Impossible 5. For all I know it may even be news for M:I movie producers Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams.

CEO Philippe Dauman spoke today at his company's annual shareholders meeting. During the Q&A person, Dauman fielded a question from a shareholder who asked if there were any plans to make a follow-up to Ghost Protocol. Dauman answered, "Oh, yes," but didn't go any further.

- The Hollywood Reporter. Comment on this Scoop (0)