Impossible – The Final Reckoning Is the Last Movie in Franchise

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning concluded the long-running series of films starring Tom Cruise as the iconic Ethan Hunt, and it has fans questioning the future of the franchise and whether this is really the last movie.

Here is why Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may be the end of the line for the Tom Cruise-led franchise.

Is Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning really the last movie and why?

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has received good critical acclaim, much like most of the previous installments. But no matter how good a franchise is, it needs to come to an end at some point. For Mission Impossible, which started with Brian De Palma’s 1996 classic, this does seem like the right point for an ending. And there are good reasons for it.

Tom Cruise revealed it is the last movie in the franchise

The biggest hint that this is indeed the last film in the franchise is Tom Cruise’s direct comment about it. Tom Cruise told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s the final! It’s not called ‘final’ for nothing.” This quite clearly hints that Cruise is done with the franchise. And the franchise has also reached its ultimatum with the recent movie.

Mission Impossible 7 and 8 did not meet the box office expectations

A huge factor why there may not be more Mission Impossible movies is that both the seventh and eighth installments of the movie did not live up to the expectations at the box office. While Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One grossed $571.1 million and the final film grossed $596.5 million, both of them were also made on a huge budget. This means that without a much bigger haul at the box office, Mission Impossible films are not very profitable anymore.

It is tough to top the story and stunts of The Final Reckoning

While the Mission: Impossible franchise has often seen a reinvention in stakes and characters, it is unlikely that the franchise would be able to conjure up a bigger threat than what was seen in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

With the stakes maxed out and the stunts going above and beyond anything fans have seen before, this movie really pushed as far as the franchise could have. Going beyond this would be very difficult, and perhaps narratively impossible.

Hence, it makes sense to end the series here.

Tom Cruise may want to invest in other projects

Though Tom Cruise plans to continue acting into his 80s, Mission: Impossible films are hard to make and consume a lot of time and effort. The 63-year-old actor may not want to dedicate years to another film in the same franchise. It took five years for the last two movies to be completed.

As per reports, Cruise has a huge deal with Warner Bros, an untitled film with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and potential sequels to Top Gun: Maverick and Days of Thunder.

Moreover, rumors suggest that he may be part of a space movie in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX.

So, Tom Cruise may be too busy in the coming years to work on another Mission: Impossible movie.

All this combined makes it clear that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may indeed be the end of the run.