Not a good day if you’re a fan of watching Tom Cruise nearly kill himself doing stunts in movies. Paramount has delayed both Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7, which both star the actor. Top Gun: Maverick has jumped from July 2 to Nov. 19, where Mission: Impossible 7 was scheduled to land. That film, in turn, has moved to May 27, 2022. That has triggered a move for Mission: Impossible 8, which is now landing July 7, 2023.
The shifts leave the July 4 weekend wide open, with only Peter Rabbit 2 landing, but Universal saw an opportunity and bumped The Forever Purge up a week from July 9 to July 2, positioning the film to be the biggest movie of the holiday weekend.
Unrelated to Top Gun: Maverick and the other shifts, Paramount also shifted the release date of Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins forward. The film is moving from Oct. 22 to July 23, giving it a far healthier summer opening to grab younger audiences. Paramount seems to be eying expanding audiences as theaters begin reopening and a better understanding of where money can be made is becoming clear. The delay for Top Gun: Maverick happened so that more international markets can be open for the film.
Most of these films have already seen multiple delays and reschedulings due to COVID-19, especially Top Gun: Maverick. These aren’t the only films that have been shuffling around either. WarnerMedia recently moved Mortal Kombat, and Sony shifted Venom 2 and Uncharted. Disney seems to be locked into its release schedule though, recently revealing that both Jungle Cruise and Free Guy will be theatrical releases only.
