Everything that has a beginning has an end, and it certainly feels like this is the end of Mission: Impossible and Tom Cruise‘s Ethan Hunt, if the title of the eighth film is accurate. Paramount has just announced that the latest Mission: Impossible film will be entitled The Final Reckoning , along with a stunning trailer for the film. Originally, the film was titled Dead Reckoning Part 2 but, following the mixed financial response to the first part in 2023, and more shooting on the movie, it was decided to go down a different path. After Dead Reckoning Part One faced a tough battle at the box office last year, it’s bought itself some time at the worldwide box office but working with IMAX for a three-week exclusive run in its premium format theaters next year.
The trailer is packed full of stunning set pieces, including what may well end up being Cruise’s masterpiece, as we see him hanging from a biplane hundreds of feet in the air and, of course, running like a maniac, which is now his trademark in any action films he’s involved in. We also see flashbacks to Ethan’s first mission infiltrating the CIA with the iconic hovering over the floor in the secure room. The trailer has a feel of finality to it, but will this be the end of Ethan?
How Did ‘Dead Reckoning’ End?
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ended on a high-stakes cliffhanger, with Ethan Hunt and his team going head-to-head with a powerful AI entity known as “The Entity,” which has gained enough control to manipulate global technology and pose a threat to world security. Ethan had to secure a key that could either control the AI, or take it out altogether. In the final act of the movie, Ethan and Grace (Hayley Atwell), a skilled thief reluctantly helping Ethan’s team, board a high-speed train to retrieve part of this key. Meanwhile, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Ethan’s ally and love interest, is killed in a fight with Gabriel (Esai Morales), a mercenary working for the Entity and someone with a mysterious connection to Ethan’s past. The film ends with Ethan securing half of the key, but where it goes and how it’s used is unknown to the team, but not to the audience, who saw the AI’s original resting place in a destroyed submarine.
Stay tuned for more updates on Mission: Impossible 8 and its exclusive IMAX premiere. The film opens on May 23, 2025.
