Tom Cruise's 'Mission Impossible' sequels release dates delayed due to coronavirus

Paramount Pictures announced on Friday its decision to delay the release of Tom Cruise-starrer Mission Impossible franchise due to the coronavirus pandemic. "Mission: Impossible 7" and Mission: Impossible 8" were originally slated to hittheatres on July 23, 2021, and Aug. 5, 2022, respectively.

Tom Cruise's action franchise's seventh installment will now release on Nov. 19, 2021 and eight on Nov. 4, 2022, respectively, Variety reports. "Mission: Impossible 7" stopped shooting due to the coronavirus outbreak when Paramount was forced to announce a break in February. Cruise was forced to stay locked in a luxury hotel in Venice, Italy, as he waited for a decision on the future of the project.

The 57-year-old actor was supposed to start filming in Venice, Italy that as the worst-hit in Europe. It has been reported that Cruise's shoot locations were popular ancient canals and squares of the floating city. The shooting schedule in Venice was for three weeks, according to Daily Mail.

The director for the seventh and eight instalments of "Mission Impossible" is Christopher McQuarrie. He has earlier directed having previously "Rogue Nation" in 2015 and "Fallout" in 2018. The latter was also the most commercially successful in terms of rave reviews and grossing over $790 million at the global box office.

The "Mission Impossible" franchise began with Cruise in 1996. The inspiration for the film was drawn from a television series of the same name that aired from 1966 to 1973. The first film after the series was called "Mission: Impossible vs. the Mob" in 1968. The TV series was revived briefly in 1988.

However, Cruise's first film in the franchise was "Mission: Impossible," released in 1996. The actor essays the role of the protagonist Ethan Hunt, who is a senior operations agent for the MI Force, an elite, top secret espionage and covert operations agency.

The Hollywood star also starred in the sequels -- Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018).

Meanwhile, MI 7 old release date will now be the launchpad for Chris Pratt's sci-fi film, "The Tomorrow War." The movie was originally set to release in December this year.

Paramount also announced new release dates for animated adventure film "Paw Patrol" (Aug. 20, 2021),"Dungeons and Dragons" has been pushed back to May 27, 2022. Meanwhile, the horror film "Spell" has been removed from the release calendar.