When Paramount decided to move Mission: Impossible 5 from Christmas Day to July, there had to be some questions about how the movie could be finished in time. Now, there’s word that it really is in trouble, as director Christopher McQuarrie is still trying to figure out the ending.
Sources for The Hollywood Reporter say that production was recently stopped for a week in London because McQuarrie’s original ending isn’t going to work for some reason. A mysterious friend of the Oscar winner was asked to work out the finale. This person will not be credited and will not be paid.
One source for THR said that McQuarrie is “scrambling” to come up with a new ending, but a source close to the studio sounded more positive. “Chris, Tom [Cruise] and a third person wanted to take a minute to get from what they thought was a good place to a more perfect place,” the source told the site.
Back in January, Paramount made the surprising decision to move the film from Christmas Day to July 31. While it is understandable that the studio would want to move it far ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ release, the jump up all the way to the summer cuts down on McQuarrie’s post-production schedule. But Paramount is so clearly confident that it is going to work out that they’ve already announced an IMAX release.
Hopefully M:I 5 doesn’t experience the same infamous struggles Brad Pitt’s World War Z had in 2013. Of course, WWZ became an international box office hit, so Paramount must enjoy rolling the dice.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com