Tom Cruise will return for the fifth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise and  distributor Paramount Pictures has accepted the mission to unveil it on Christmas Day, 2015.  Cruise will reprise his role as super spy Ethan Hunt following the massive critical and commercial resurgence the franchise achieved with the fourth outing, Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol. The fourth installment which was directed by Brad Bird and released during the 2011 holiday season, the first of the series to vacate the summer season norm of the series.

With the massive uptick that Ghost Protocol received, it’s fitting that Paramount will return to the same slot with the latest entry in the series.  Christopher McQuarrie, who previously directed Cruise in the last winter’s Jack Reacher and won an Academy Award for his original screenplay The Usual Suspects, will take the helm of the fifth chapter. Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) will serve as writer.  Mission: Impossible 5 will open just a week after the much-salivated-over Star Wars: Episode VII which is being directed by J.J. Abrams, who directed Mission: Impossible III and serves as one of the producers of the fifth installment.

Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames are slated to co-star.