Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible movies have over time become a grand profit-making franchise. However, as Paramount Pictures starts work on the sixth instalment of the action-packed film, there seems to be some monetary disagreement between the studios and the franchise's star leading to some delay in pre-production of the movie.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), work on Mission: Impossible 6 hit a roadblock after a dispute between Cruise and Paramount over the actor's salary demands. As it turns out, the bone of contention between the two seems to be Cruise's "back-end profit participation".

The 54-year-old star wants Paramount to "match or exceed" the amount of profit-sharing that he will receive from Universal Pictures for starring as the lead in the upcoming Mummy reboot.

Paramount, which was reportedly looking to start principal photography in January 2017, is co-financing the movie along with Skydance. Perhaps another reason for the delay in the prep stage could be because the studio wants other producers such as Bad Robot and Skydance to alter their fees, according to Deadline.

THR asserts this is the second hiccup for the high-grossing project, which earlier faced some serious bumps in July. After the alleged "script issues", production on Mission: Impossible 6 was shifted from November to early 2017. Due to all these differences and delays, the movie — which was earlier slated for a late 2017 release — is at present undated.

Mission: Impossible 6 will be directed by Christopher McQuarrie from his own script, as he did in Rogue Nation.

Mission: Impossible franchise vis-à-vis Tom Cruise fact-box

  • Tom Crusie's star power has had a huge impact on the box-office grossing of the thriller franchise.
  • The fifth instalment - Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation – made a profit of more than $680m (£521m) worldwide.
  • For the successful run of M:I 5 in 2015, Cruise earned a whopping $25m.
  • Reports suggest that the Oscar-nominated actor has altogether made a profit of above $75m after calculating gross profits for each of the first three Mission: Impossible movies.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Tom Cruise plays secret agent Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible franchise Bo Bridges) (Paramount Pictures