‘Mission: Impossible 7,’ ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ And More Given New Release Dates At Paramount

KEY POINTS

Paramount Pictures has made changes to its calendar of release dates for its new movies
“Top Gun: Maverick” was moved from its original July 2 schedule to Nov. 19
Only “Snake Eyes” was moved up from its previous release date

Paramount Pictures has announced changes to its release date calendar for the next two years amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The studio revealed Friday that it has moved the release dates for a number of its big screen projects including three Tom Cruise tentpoles, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

As part of the changes, Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible 7” has moved from its original Nov. 19 scheduled opening to May 27, 2022, just ahead of Memorial Day weekend. Its sequel, “Mission: Impossible 8,” is coming out on July 7, 2023, instead of its previous Nov. 4, 2022, release date.

“Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to the ‘80s classic that also stars Cruise, has been moved four months from its original premiere date of July 2 to Nov. 19.

“Top Gun: Maverick” is expected to be a billion-dollar-grossing film considering the success of its predecessor, so the studio decided to push back its release date in the hopes of securing a better opening at the box office when places in Europe and in Brazil have fully reopened their theaters, according to Deadline.

Other projects that were given new release dates include “Jackass” (Oct. 22), Kenneth Branagh and Graham King’s “Bee Gees” (Nov. 4, 2022), Ron Howard’s animated feature “The Shrinking of Treehorn” (Nov. 10, 2023) and a still-untitled project with Ryan Reynolds and John Krasinski (Nov. 17, 2023).

Only “Snake Eyes,” the “G.I. Joe” spinoff that stars Henry Golding of “Crazy Rich Asians” fame, has jumped forward in the calendar as Paramount decided to release it three months earlier on July 23 instead of its original Oct. 22 schedule, as per Variety.

Interestingly, a new “Star Trek” installment has been added to the calendar, and the studio has given it a tentative release date set on June 9, 2023.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s rival Universal has decided to occupy “Top Gun: Maverick’s” former release date by releasing “The Forever Purge” on July 2 from its previous July 9 premiere date.

Last month, Universal also announced that “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” will open on Sept. 23, 2022, while “The Bad Guys” will hit theaters on April 15, 2022.