The budget for the highly anticipated Mission: Impossible 8 has reportedly reached a record high. This forthcoming installment in the long-running Mission: Impossible series will follow up on 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. Tom Cruise will reprise the role of Ethan Hunt as his team of IMF agents are desperately searching for The Entity. Since its announcement, Mission Impossible 8 has been involved in a lengthy production process which led to a release delay and several speculations about its outrageous budget.

According to Puck News, the Mission: Impossible 8 budget has reportedly crossed over $300 million, making it the most expensive installment in the franchise and one of the most expensive movies ever made. This news comes against the backdrop of last year’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, which grossed $567 million worldwide but still lost more than $200 million in its theatrical run because of its expensive production budget of about $291 million.

How Does Mission: Impossible 8’s Production Budget Compare To That Of Other Mission: Impossible Movies?

Some Of The Early Installments Were Just Half The Cost Of Mission: Impossible 8.

The Mission: Impossible film series has almost been synonymous with big production budgets since the movies prioritized maximizing the quality of visual and practical effects for the death-defying action sequences. This is particularly key for any Tom Cruise movie since the actor prefers to perform his own stunts to give a realistic effect. This approach has paid dividends over the years as the franchise has grossed over $4.09 billion worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing film series of all time.

However, the reports on the eighth installment’s budget and Dead Reckoning‘s losses slightly call this approach into question. Before the release of Dead Reckoning, the most expensive Mission: Impossible film was 2018’s Fallout, which cost a reported $180 million. Before that was Rogue Nation, which cost about $150 million, just half the reported budget of Mission: Impossible 8. However, Dead Reckoning‘s inflated budget was the result of the pandemic affecting production and other filming issues, such as the Polish bridge controversy.

Still, going from $180 million to about $291 million for Dead Reckoning is a significant jump, which makes it difficult to reach the break-even point and makes the reported losses seem inevitable. Mission: Impossible 8 having a slightly larger budget raises further concerns about its box office potential since the possible break-even point would be set at $600 million without taking into account marketing costs. That’s no easy feat, as evident with Dead Reckoning, so the latest budget is too much of a risk for the action franchise.

Mission: Impossible 8 will release in theaters on May 23, 2025.

Source: Puck News