Mission Impossible

[GeneChing]

I've enjoyed the MI franchise although I've felt two characters have been missing throughout it: Barney and Cinnamon.

Zhang Jingchu joins Mission: Impossible 5



By Kevin Ma
Wed, 08 October 2014, 10:15 AM (HKT)
Production News

China's ZHANG Jingchu 張靜初 has joined the cast of Mission: Impossible 5, the big-budget spy film starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin and Simon Pegg.

Zhang's role is reportedly being kept secret because it involves a major plot twist. Last week, the actress wrote about arriving in London in her Weibo microblog.

This is not Zhang's first foreign production. She has also co-starred in Finnish-China co-production Jade Warrior 玉戰士 (2006), Rush Hour 3 (2007), John Rabe (2008) and Italian film Something Good: The Mercury Factor.

Last year Zhang co-starred in her first big-budget action film, the China-produced Switch 天機　富春山居圖 (pictured), which shot in the Dubai's Burj Khalifa, a prominent shooting location in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011).

Zhang, who has studied in New Zealand and New York City, is among a handful of actresses in China who speaks fluent English.

Earlier this year, LI Bingbing 李冰冰 and FAN Bingbing 范冰冰 had significant supporting roles in Transformers: Age of Extinction and X-Men: Days of Future Past respectively.

[GeneChing]

...but it got no traffic so I'm hijacking it as a general MI thread.

Tom Cruise Apparently Injured in 'Mission: Impossible 6' Stunt
8:25 AM PDT 8/13/2017 by Jackie Strause


Getty
Tom Cruise

Video shows the star performing a building-to-building jump for the upcoming action-thriller.
Tom Cruise may have suffered an injury while performing a stunt for Mission: Impossible 6.

Video taken on the London set obtained by TMZ shows the actor jumping from one building to another and falling short of his mark. Cruise appears to have hit the building hard and is shown limping away after getting back on his feet.

He was able to return to the line and get himself back to the original building.

The extent of his injuries is unclear, and The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to both his rep and Paramount for comment.

The 55-year-old actor has a history of doing his own stunts, with his Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation plane sequence even serving as a key point in the film's marketing. The opening scene featured Cruise's Ethan Hunt hanging on to an Airbus 400 as it taxies down a runway and eventually takes off.

Director Christopher McQuarrie is returning for the sixth installment of the franchise, which is set to hit theaters July 27, 2018. The film also stars Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Angela Bassett and Alec Baldwin.

[GeneChing]

...but it got no traffic so I'm hijacking it as a general MI thread.

Tom Cruise Apparently Injured in 'Mission: Impossible 6' Stunt
8:25 AM PDT 8/13/2017 by Jackie Strause


Getty
Tom Cruise

Video shows the star performing a building-to-building jump for the upcoming action-thriller.
Tom Cruise may have suffered an injury while performing a stunt for Mission: Impossible 6.

Video taken on the London set obtained by TMZ shows the actor jumping from one building to another and falling short of his mark. Cruise appears to have hit the building hard and is shown limping away after getting back on his feet.

He was able to return to the line and get himself back to the original building.

The extent of his injuries is unclear, and The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to both his rep and Paramount for comment.

The 55-year-old actor has a history of doing his own stunts, with his Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation plane sequence even serving as a key point in the film's marketing. The opening scene featured Cruise's Ethan Hunt hanging on to an Airbus 400 as it taxies down a runway and eventually takes off.

Director Christopher McQuarrie is returning for the sixth installment of the franchise, which is set to hit theaters July 27, 2018. The film also stars Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Angela Bassett and Alec Baldwin.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

Remember when Jackie busted his foot shooting Rumble in the Bronx and he just threw a sock painted to look like a sneaker over it? That didn't even cost $1M.

JULY 25, 2018 6:45am PT by Tatiana Siegel
'Mission: Impossible — Fallout' Budget Soars After Tom Cruise Injury, Raising Box-Office Stakes


Paramount Pictures
Paramount's 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout'

A lengthy eight-week shooting hiatus ballooned the cost of the sixth film in the Paramount action franchise, which is now the most expensive (even with insurance).

For his latest outing, agent Ethan Hunt is being squeezed like never before.

Thanks to Mission: Impossible — Fallout star Tom Cruise’s on-set ankle injury and recuperation, the film’s budget ballooned to a franchise high, making the profit margins even tighter for Paramount and Skydance. The eight-week hiatus pushed Fallout’s budget to roughly $250 million, about $80 million more than 2015’s Rogue Nation, the franchise's previous outing, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter.

But insiders caution that Fallout’s real costs were closer to $180 million given that most of the extra costs associated with the injury will be covered by insurance because Cruise broke his ankle during production.

Star injuries can be costly, often requiring extensive reshoots. In the case of Fallout, there were no reshoots. In fact, the scene in which Cruise broke his ankle made it into the final cut of the film. But Cruise — who also serves as a producer on Fallout — and the studio were determined to keep the prime July 27 release date, and he rehabbed as quickly as possible (by contrast, when Blake Lively injured her hand during production on another Paramount film, Rhythm Section, the film shut down for five months). The biggest added cost for Fallout was paying the cast and crew for the eight-week hiatus so that they wouldn’t take another job. Still, the Fallout team moved efficiently during the hiatus, editing footage that had already been shot in a successful effort to make the original release date stick.

Even at $180 million, the increased budget will put added pressure on Fallout’s box-office performance considering that the Mission: Impossible films have far slimmer margins than Paramount’s Transformers movies. In 2015, Viacom’s earnings dipped, with film studio Paramount taking much of the blame. At the time, analysts noted that Rogue Nation, which earned $683 million worldwide, was successful but not nearly as impressive as 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction ($1.1 billion). Marketing has not been cheap in the run-up to the film's release, with a campaign that included Paramount buying a pricey Super Bowl spot for Fallout.

In its favor, Fallout is poised to be the best-reviewed of the six-film franchise that began in 1996. It currently boasts a 96 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Christopher McQuarrie directed both Rogue Nation and Fallout, becoming the only helmer to tackle more than one outing. The film — which shot in France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Norway — also is expected to increase its Chinese footprint. Rogue Nation earned a stellar $136 million in the market, a figure that is certain to rise with this outing.

On Monday's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Cruise joked that he fractured his ankle doing an "easy" maneuver on the Fallout set last summer.

[GeneChing]

FEBRUARY 1, 2019 7:07PM PT
Tom Cruise ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movies Dated for Summers of 2021, 2022
By DAVE MCNARY
Dave McNary
Film Reporter
@Variety_DMcNary


CREDIT: CHIABELLA JAMES

Paramount Pictures has set late summer release dates for the next two installments of “Mission: Impossible.”

The studio announced Friday night that the seventh film in the series will be released on July 23, 2021, and the eighth film will open on Aug. 5, 2022.

Variety first reported on Jan. 14 that Christopher McQuarrie was returning to direct both films from his own scripts with Tom Cruise confirming his return as IMF agent Ethan Hunt.

Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, “We couldn’t be more excited to build on the massive success of ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ by reteaming with Chris and Tom on these next two films, following two successful collaborations.”

The announcement also disclosed that Skydance’s David Ellison will again produce, as he has on the last three films. “We’ve also enjoyed a great partnership with Skydance and David Ellison on these three most recent films and look forward to continued success together on this great franchise,” Gianopulos said.

“Fallout” grossed more than $790 million worldwide in 2018, the best haul in the six-film franchise to date. McQuarrie also directed 2015’s “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation,” which took in $682 million worldwide.

After years of switching up the director to give a new feel to each installment, Cruise and Paramount have now settled on McQuarrie as the primary director — similarly to Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling selecting David Yates to directed the final four films of the “Harry Potter” series and the first three films of the Fantastic Beasts spinoff franchise.

Yeah, I'm still watching these. I love the franchise and I'm still waiting for Tom to show his feckin age. Plus I really like Simon Pegg.

[GeneChing]

Mulan is still on at this point. I'm scheduled to go to the screener soon.

Hollywood Coronavirus Cancellations: A List of Film, TV, and Entertainment Events Impacted By Pandemic
Posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2020 by Ethan Anderton



The coronavirus strain known as COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon, and the spread of the infection has already been classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. This has resulted in the cancellation and postponing of many major film, TV and entertainment events around the world, as well as shutting down certain film and TV productions, or at the very least changing how they operate. Because the updates are coming so fast and fierce, we’ll be keeping an updated list as new coronavirus cancellations and interruptions are announced each day.

Coronavirus Cancellations (Constantly Updated)
We will update this list as required. The dates signify when the cancellation took place with information gathered from various sources, including and especially USA Today and IndieWire, who have been keeping track of the ongoing cancellations and delays.


March 12
Fast and Furious 9 (F9) Release Delayed to 2021 – Universal Pictures has decided to delay the global release of Fast and Furious 9 by an entire year. It is now slated to open in April 2, 2021 in North America, but specific international dates were not revealed at this time.

The Lovebirds Release Delayed – Variety reports Paramount Pictures has delayed the romantic comedy The Lovebirds starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae. Originally slated for release on April 3, the movie now has new release date.

A Quiet Place Part II Release Delayed – The worldwide release of A Quiet Place II was reported by Deadline. Originally intended for release overseas starting on March 18 and in the US on March 20, but the movie has yet to be given a new release date. Get more in our full story.

Scott C’s Great Showdowns Gallery Events Canceled – Scott C’s latest art show at Gallery 1988 is canceling all in-gallery events, as well as a planned global scavenger hunt for prints, but will still have scheduled print releases and livestreams.

Universal Television Delays Production on Shows – Deadline reports the second seasons of Netflix’s Russian Doll and AppleTV+’s Little America, as well as the first season of Rutherford Falls for Peacock, have all been delayed due to coronavirus concerns. Most of the shows require international travel, which is largely why the decision was made to delay production start.

Broadway Usher Tests Positive for Coronavirus – A part-time Broadway usher who worked at the productions of Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf? at the Booth Theatre between March 3 and March 7 and Six at the Brooks Atkinson on the evening of February 25 and the afternoon of March 1 has tested positive for coronavirus.

Both of the productions will continue, according to Deadline, and the two theater owners, Shubert Organization, owner of the Booth, and the Nederlander Organization, owner of the Brooks Atkinson, said the venues will have a deep cleaning performed. However, if any ticket holders wish to exchange for a future performance instead, they may do so.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

March 11
California Governor Urges Cancellation of Large Gatherings – The Los Angeles Times reported that California Governor Gavin Newsom and state health official are recommending and urging the cancellation of upcoming gatherings of 250 or more people across the entire state in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. This recommendation does not come with the force of law to stop these events, but that could change if the coronavirus situation continues to get worse.

Hollywood Agencies and Companies Starting to Work Remotely – Deadline reports Hollywood talent agencies like CAA, UTA, ICM Partners and Paradigm are making adjustments to have their employees work from home in order to help slow the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Viacom, who owns Paramount Pictures, MTV, Comedy Central and more, said they will start testing whether or not they can have their employees also working from home instead of going into offices at this time.

Cinema Con 2020 Canceled – Variety reported the cancellation of CinemaCon 2020, the annual trade show for theater owners from around the world where the latest developments and advances in exhibition, distribution, marketing, publicity, advertising, social media, theater equipment and concessions are showcased. The event was slated to take place from March 30 through April 2.

Here’s the official statement from John Fithian and Mitch Newhauser from the National Association of Theater Owners:

“It is with great regret we are announcing the cancellation of CinemaCon 2020. Each spring, motion picture exhibitors, distributors and industry partners from around the world meet in Las Vegas to share information and celebrate the moviegoing experience. This year, due to the travel ban from the European Union, the unique travel difficulties in many other areas of the world and other challenges presented by the Coronavirus pandemic, a significant portion of the worldwide motion picture community is not able to attend CinemaCon. While local outbreaks vary widely in severity, the global circumstances make it impossible for us to mount the show that our attendees have come to expect. After consultation with our attendees, trade show exhibitors, sponsors, and studio presenters, NATO has decided therefore to cancel CinemaCon 2020. We look forward to continuing the 10-year tradition of presenting the largest movie theater convention in the world and joining our attendees in future celebrations of the moviegoing experience.”

PaleyFest 2020 Postponed – The annual television showcase of some of the biggest and best television shows has been postponed with new dates for the festival yet to be announced. Shows like Modern Family, The Mandalorian, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Boys, Star Trek: Picard, Schitt’s Creek, and more were slated to be featured at the festival, but they will have to wait for the event to be rescheduled. Here’s the full statement from the Paley Center for Media:

“As you are aware, the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to remain of the utmost public concern. For several weeks now, the Paley Center, along with our venue host, The Dolby Theatre, has monitored the situation closely, staying in daily contact with local, state, and federal partners, as well as following the recommendations issued by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and following the guidelines of the local health department. Based on the most recent news and out of an abundance of concern, we have made the difficult decision to postpone this year’s PaleyFest. While we were looking forward to presenting another stellar lineup of PaleyFest events, the safety of our event participants, guests, and staff is the highest priority. We are exploring options to reschedule the festival and all ticket purchases will be honored for the new dates.”

NBA Suspended 2019-20 Basketball Season – The NBA announced the suspension of the current season of basketball after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. The news came just before the Utah Jazz were set to play an away game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Gameplay will be suspended entirely until further notice and will determine when they can resume play as the coronavirus situation develops.

Talk Shows Avoid Having Studio Audiences – Deadline confirmed New York’s late night network talk shows The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will not have studio audiences for their tapings. In addition, cable talk shows Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Watch What Happens with Andy Cohen will follow suit.

Los Angeles talk shows have not announced any sweeping changes to their recording plans yet with live audiences, but The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View and Live With Kelly And Ryan will not film with audiences either. Conan is currently on a two-week hiatus, but their filming plans could easily change in the future.

Riverdale Production Suspended – Production on The CW series was suspended after a person working on the show was recently in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Warner Bros. TV told Deadline:

“We are working closely with the appropriate authorities and health agencies in Vancouver to identify and contact all individuals who may have come into direct contact with our team member,” the statement continued. “The health and safety of our employees, casts and crews is always our top priority. We have and will continue to take precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world.”

Survivor Production Delayed – CBS has delayed the production of the next two seasons of Survivor. As of now the premiere dates for those seasons in September 2020 and February 2021 have not been delayed, but that could change if the production does not begin with enough time to spare. Read our full story on the matter over here

HBO’s Night of Too Many Stars Postponed – USA Today reported the event hosted by Jon Stewart and presented by HBO in partnership with NEXT for AUTISM has been pushed back. The show was slated to take place on April 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. No new date has been set yet.

Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Postponed – Variety reported annual awards show from Nickelodeon where kids pick their favorite movies, TV shows, movie stars, musicians and more has been postponed until further notice. No new date has been set yet.

E3 (The Electronic Entertainment Expo) Canceled – Kotaku reported the tradeshow for video games slated to take place from June 9 through June 11 has been canceled. In place of the event, there will be “an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020.”

GLAAD Awards Canceled – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced the cancellation of their awards intended to take place on March 19. It’s not clear if thy will be rescheduled.

Adam Sandler Postpones March Comedy Tour Dates – In a post to Twitter, the comedian announced that March tour dates would be postponed until a later time. It is not clear when they will be rescheduled and more dates could be canceled.

March 10
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Production Halted – The Marvel Studios series was slated to shoot an entire week in Prague, but they stopped before finishing due to spreading coronavirus concerns. It is not clear when and where production will finish the scenes meant to be shot there. Get more in our full story.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway Release Delayed – Deadline reported the global release of the children’s movie sequel has been pushed back to August 7 by Sony Pictures.

Game Shows Filming Without Audiences – Deadline reported Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune announced they would be taping episodes without live studio audiences, especially since much of the audiences of those shows consists of older viewers more susceptible to coronavirus.

March 6
SXSW Festival Canceled – The movie, TV, music and tech festival was canceled by the city of Austin one week before the event was slated to begin on March 13. Festival organizers may reschedule the festival, but the cancellation has created severe problems for them, and it might prevent the fest from returning in 2021.

March 4
No Time to Die Global Release Delayed – Sony Pictures made the decision to delay the global release of No Time to Die from April to November. The film will now open in the UK on November 12 and in the US on November 25. Read more in our full story over here.

February 24
Mission: Impossible 7 Production Halted in Italy – After the outbreak worsened significantly in Italy, USA Today reported Paramount Pictures chose to halt production on Mission: Impossible 7. It’s not clear when/if shooting will still take place there in the future.

THREADS
COVID-19
No Time to Die
Mission Impossible
F&F9