The Tom Cruise-led “Mission Impossible 7” is moving on the calendar once again. This time, it’s setting its sights on 2023.

 

Paramount Pictures and Skydance said Friday that both the seventh and eighth installments in the blockbuster movie franchise would be delayed due to the lingering pandemic. The yet-untitled “Mission Impossible 7” is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 14, 2023, and “Mission Impossible 8″ is set for June 28, 2024.

 

This marks the latest pandemic-related postponement for the seventh “Mission Impossible” film. Its most recent release date was May 27, 2022.

 

The delay comes as the domestic box office is seeing more misses than hits when it comes to franchise blockbusters. While a film like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has generated more than $703 million in the U.S. and Canada, no other film released in 2021 has garnered more than $225 million in domestic ticket sales.

 

The “Mission Impossible” franchise has relied heavily on international ticket sales, especially from China. “Mission Impossible: Fallout” tallied $791 million in global ticket sales when it came out in 2018, and around $570 million of that total came from sales outside the U.S. and Canada. Ticket sales in China accounted for around $181 million of that business.

 

China has been more selective about which Hollywood films it allows in theaters, meaning many blockbuster films are missing out on significant revenue.