Like Tom Cruise after he lands on an aircraft carrier, we're going to have to cool our jets. Because, concerned about the danger zone of the pandemic, Paramount has chosen to move Top Gun: Maverick once again, shifting the sequel from its November 2021 date to Memorial Day weekend 2022 (AKA 27 May for us in the UK).
That in turn will have a knock on effect for another Cruise film, Mission: Impossible 7, which had been sitting in that late May slot and now moves to 30 September, 2022. Deadline makes no mention of the eighth Mission movie that writer/director Christopher McQuarrie is working on, but given that that was already set for July 2023, it seems unlikely to be affected unless the previous film moves again.
In related Paramount news, the studio is also kicking Jackass Forever out of October this year to 4 February 2022. That leaves a few slots open for other studios to consider – and Sony has already leapt at the 19 November date vacated by Maverick, moving Ghostbusters: Afterlife back a week to that prime pre-Thanksgiving space.
More move shuffles are unsurprising given the spread of the Delta variant, and continued concerns over the safety of movie theaters, but it's also disappointing to see big films continue to suffer delays.