Cruise, Abrams Working on 'Mission: Impossible 4'

With J.J. Abrams as hot a commodity as he could possibly be thanks to Star Trek, talk of a fourth Mission: Impossible movie suddenly makes a lot more sense. Tom Cruise has wanted to take another run at Ethan Hunt for a while, but with his box office production slumping, another Mission was at best improbable. But Abrams' M:I 3 was the best of the trilogy, and had Tom Cruise not been a lunatic on the Today show the previous summer, more people would have definitely seen it. Cruise is still trying to rebuild from the summer of 2005. “Tom and I have come up with a really cool idea we are pursuing,” the predictably cautious Abrams teased during an interview with TV Guide (via Spoiler TV). All Abrams would say is that Cruise invited him back as a producer. The shame is that Abrams would probably be a longshot to direct, unless it's part of his new Bad Robot deal with Paramount, which keeps the writer-producer-director in the Sumner Redstone family through 2013. At least he's in discussions to produce, though; the Bad Robot brand is a pretty good one, more reliable than most. For Cruise, he's in dire need of a franchise, believe it or not. Mission: Impossible had been his big budget movie series until, by his fault alone, Cruise alienated a large portion of his audience. But outside of those movies, only War of the Worlds has been a huge hit for him in the past decade or so. And at 46, the days of being a reliable action star are probably on the decline.

Comments

[Charcole]

Screw Mission Impossible. J.J. Abrams needs to keep his mind on Lost, the next Star Trek, and most importantly The Dark Tower. He can skip producing MI4.

[Jay]

"And at 46, the days of being a reliable action star are probably on the decline."

Tell that to Sly! ;-)

[Asana]

"And at 46, the days of being a reliable action star are probably on the decline."

Good that you tossed "probably" into that because Cruise has managed to retain youthful looks without resorting to the usual plastic surgery fixes. Not that age is ever necessarily a factor against being an action star of some sort >>koff Harrison koff Ford<<. This is more a definite NEED for Cruise than it is for Abrams and I'm surprised J.J. would tie up with this fallen star. Perhaps Tarantino's celeb-revival bit is getting catchy?

[Earl Higgins]

Sounds good to me...MI3 was a huge improvement over the second one, and Cruise has proven in Tropic Thunder and Valkyrie that he's still got the goods.

[Get The Big Picture]

I agree with you, Earl. Never the best actor of his generation, but an absolute movie star. Stallone? Rocky Balboa was the only movie that made money for the guy since Copland. As for the Harrison Ford comparison, Indy IV was his first action movie in about ten years. You could count Firewall, I suppose, but I think its lackluster performance shows us a little bit about how believable Ford was an action star in his AARP years. In both examples, though, you're citing existing franchises. Nobody would buy Harrison Ford in a new action series.

All I'm saying is Cruise doesn't have a lot of time to generate a new franchise, maybe ten years, tops. But because he's not back at his previous levels of box office strength, keeping an old franchise alive is the best way to do it.

[Asana]

Whether Cruise still has "the goods" really isn't so much at issue though. He's fallen off a bit thanks to his own behavior outside of film. I'm going to bet against the success of an MI:4 for the obvious reasons that it's yet another sequel and sequels tend to falter more than fly away with box office receipts. Cruise hasn't enjoyed a hugely successful blockbuster of any sort in a long time and I highly doubt he's going to climb his way back via a 4th outing as Ethan Hunt, even with Abrams on board. What he needs is something new and compelling to pull people back in droves and I just don't see anything like that with his name attached.

True enough Colin, Ford would not be believable as an action hero of a brand new franchise. Given your 10 year window, there's plenty that Cruise could potentially get done provided the right role comes along. However, if he weighs himself down with yet another MI sequel he's going to eat away at least a good 2-3 of that 10 years. Assuming that MI: 4 doesn't pull off some insane feat (ala Dark Knight) what are his chances of landing a new action franchise? I'd argue that his chances would be far less than anyone currently more bankable like Will Smith. Add to the fact that no one is really sitting around going... boy I could sure do with another Mission Impossible flick! and Cruise's chances at recapturing box office gold look all the more bleak.

[Get The Big Picture]

I don't disagree with any of that. But I also think, all other things being equal, M:I 3 was his best movie in the franchise, so I'm sure its relative failure left a bad taste in his mouth. Not the first time that's happened, I'd wager.

He's got some properties in the next few years that could franchise out, but Mission: Impossible doesn't need an introduction. It's a safer bet for everyone involved. Plus, would you give Cruise a new franchise at this point? He's got to earn that trust back. Valkyrie was warmly received, but not a blockbuster. This is really the only avenue I see for him in that regard.