Paramount has announced that Mission: Impossible 5 will no longer open on Christmas, but instead the Tom Cruise spy-sequel will now hit theaters on July 31.
The move is likely to lessen its competition – which included Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening a week before Christmas and the James Bond film SPECTRE opening in November – from stealing the attention of moviegoers.
Mission: Impossible 5 follows IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and the rest of his crew (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames) on another mission. Alec Baldwin (Blue Jasmine) and Rebecca Ferguson (Hercules) joined the cast last summer. It’s directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who worked with Cruise on 2012’s Jack Reacher and co-wrote Cruise’s most recent summer blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow.
Cruise is also working on a sequel to Jack Reacher, titled Jack Reacher: Never Go Back that is still awaiting a start date.