‘Mission Impossible 6’ project stalls as Tom Cruise fights for pay increase
A dispute over salary between Tom Cruise and Paramount has halted pre-production on Mission: Impossible 6, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Co-financed with Skydance, the studio was set to film in January with director Christopher McQuarrie returning and writing the script.
“Sources tell THR that one of the contentious points is Cruise’s backend profit participation, with the actor looking to match or exceed what he is getting paid by Universal for starring in The Mummy, which he is currently shooting in London,” they note.
“Mummy is a pivotal movie for Universal, which is looking to launch a cinematic franchise and has hinged plenty on Cruise’s star power.”
During the summer, July, the sixth film in the popular franchise was rumored to be hitting obstacles regarding the script and a production start of November was moved to the early 2017 timeframe.
Paramount initially wanted Mission: Impossible 6 for a late 2017 release but it is currently undated.
Expect the studio to cave because without Cruise there is no project. Films like Bourne or Taken are linked directly to the actor playing that role and spin-offs or recasts are and will be a disaster.
The main cast of Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames and Alex Baldwin are all presumed to be returning for the new film.
