2011 starting to look like a great year! Just last week we ran a somewhat sketchy rumor that J.J. Abrams would return to produce another Mission: Impossible 4 with Tom Cruise. It came from a very small blurb in TV Guide - but it looks as if they just beat the Hollywood Reporter to the punch. Now THR is officially reporting that Paramount has put M:i:IV on the fast-track for a 2011 release. It's not a surefire prospect - both Cruise and Abrams have so many other projects in the works, that neither will confirm what they're doing next or if they'll even have the time to get to Mission: Impossible by 2010. We can only hope!
What the THR article does say is that there are two different scenarios that Abrams and Cruise will choose from: 1) they "could reconceive it in a way that is closer to the ensemble approach of the TV series", or 2) they "could reconfigure Cruise as Ethan Hunt in a less front-and-center role, as some kind of mentor to the new M:I crew." This is all very early speculation and no writers have been hired. To be honest, I don't like either of those, but I think they're right in that this franchise might be on its last legs. It needs something new if they're going to keep it running. But is rebooting it, to use that trendy term, the right thing to do?


Mission: Impossible 4 Officially in Development for 2011! FirstShowing.net