LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It is being speculated that the eighth film of Tom Cruise's ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise is going for a name change.
After an average business at the box office, ‘Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1’ concluded its run in the theaters after minting $567.5 million.
However, the film created enough hype for the audience to anticipate the second part of ‘Dead Reckoning’. If rumors are to be believed, the film which was earlier called ‘Dead Reckoning Part 2’ may get a rebranding.
Hollywood Reporter's film-editor Aaron Couch first posted the speculation about the film’s name change.
He post on X on Tuesday, October 24, “Actually, Dead Reckoning 2 is no longer expected to be the title of the next Mission movie.”
Earlier, Couch also informed his fans about the movie’s release date getting pushed back by a year. Couch wrote, “Dead Reckoning 2 has been delayed a year, will now open May 23, 2025.”
The fans, nevertheless, were disappointed at the rumor of the film changing its name saying that may hamper the story arc.
'A little too late for that when the last one is called Dead Reckoning PART 1'
Netizens, however, did not like possibility of a name change as many of them declared it was too late considering previous film is called 'Dead Reckoning Part 1'.
A social media user sounded skeptical about the possibility as they said, "Well you already called the last one "Part One", so it's kinda too late."
Someone else quipped, "A little too late for that when the last one is called Dead Reckoning PART 1."
One of the fans asked, "Soooo…. How is that gonna work when the previous movie was called dead reckoning PART ONE?."
Someone else said, "Dead Reckoning: Part 1 not having a Part 2 is insane."
Another fan found the situation hilarious to conclude, "If this is true, it's the single funniest franchise course correction effort ever."
Someone else recalled a past internet conversation with the director, and said, "I remember tweeting McQ they should drop the Part One (when the first trailer dropped) and give it a unique title and he said "never"."
"After the performance of part one that is no surprise," quipped another.
"That would be confusing. It says Part 1 on the intro so a lack of consistency would be very odd," chimed in someone else.
Another social media user joked, "So Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was Part 1 of 1? #MI7 #MI8."
Filming of the eighth 'M:I 8' film has stopped
Even though the filming started in March 2022, the eighth film in the franchise is meeting the fate of its predecessor. The seventh film, 'Dead Reckoning Part 1', suffered multiple delays and cost escalation due to regulations related to Covid-19 pandemic.
While Covid is no longer an issue, the shooting of the film stopped in mid-July after SAG-AFTRA went on a strike, per Collider. Previously, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie had to stop working on the script when the Writers Guild of America went on a strike on May 2.
Speaking with Collider's Steve Weintraub, McQuarrie said that while most of the important set pieces are done, one international filming sequence was still left. He said, "We've shot all but one of our international locations."
The director continued, "We've shot our big action except for the biggest set piece, the central set piece of the film, which is massive and unlike anything we've done, and, I think, unlike anything you've seen. All the interstitial stuff is shot."
He said, "There are characters in the movie you don't even know about yet. And I have one—how would I call it?"
McQuarrie continued, "It's a sidebar action sequence involving the team, which we haven't shot yet, and that's first up as soon as we get back. It's involving elements that I've never worked with before. It's a big challenge, and it's a tight schedule. The plan to be wrapped for all principal photography is early next year."