Paramount postpones release of ‘Mission: Impossible’ sequels over COVID-19 concerns

Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures has postponed the release of two sequels of its action spy franchise ‘Mission: Impossible’ in response to the global spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

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‘Mission: Impossible 7’ will open on Nov. 19, 2021 instead of July 23, 2021. ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ is now slated to open on Nov. 4, 2022, instead of Aug. 5, 2022, U.S. entertainment news outlet Deadline Hollywood reported on Friday.

The pandemic is delivering blow after blow to the beleaguered U.S. entertainment industry, as movie releases, film and TV shoots are being postponed or canceled across the country and internationally.

Paramount Pictures announced in February that the Hollywood studio had halted production on Tom Cruise’s blockbuster ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ due to the infectious virus. The film, set to shoot in Venice, Italy, went dark when the entire country went into lockdown due to the devastating impact of COVID-19 there. Italy is one of the countries hit the hardest by COVID-19 in Europe.

The delay of ‘Mission: Impossible’ sequels is a part of Paramount Pictures’ release date shuffle. Chris Pratt’s sci-fi movie ‘The Tomorrow War,’ which moved from this year’s Christmas to being undated for a bit, is now scheduled for July 23, 2021. The studio’s distribution of animated movie ‘Paw Patrol’ is dated for Aug. 20, 2021, according to Deadline Hollywood. (UNI)