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What To Know About ‘Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning'

What To Know About ‘Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning'

The Onion23-05-2025

Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning , the eighth installment in the series, is expected to be another box-office smash. The Onion shares everything you need to know about the film.
Q: Who is directing?
A: Christopher McQuarrie with a gun pointed at his head by Tom Cruise.
Q: What stunts does Tom Cruise pull off in this one?
A: He manages to deliver several monologues about a computer villain called 'the Entity' while maintaining a straight face.
Q: Isn't Tom Cruise a Scientologist?
A: No. He's Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt.
Q: Who is the movie for?
A. The Final Reckoning is great for everyone, whether you're a male age 18 to 24 or a male age 25 to 40.
Q: What's the mission this time?
A: To make $800 million at the box office.
Q: Why did the film have such a high budget?
A: McQuarrie insisted on using real innocent victims for each explosion.
Q: Is Clark Gable in it?
A: No, Clark Gable unfortunately continues to be dead.
Q: What new vehicle have they decided to stage an elaborate chase sequence with?
A: Let's just say that if fans aren't ready for a recumbent bicycle, then they better get ready.
Q: Should I ask Sara if she wants to go see it with me?
A: Yes. She might say no, but the pain of rejection will be nothing compared to the pain of not knowing.
Q: Is this the last Mission: Impossible film?
A: It's the last one with non-CGI Tom Cruise.
Q: What's Tom Cruise's next project?
A: Based on probability, dying in a helicopter crash.

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Film Academy Taps Tom Cruise, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas for Honorary Oscars, Dolly Parton for Hersholt Award
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Film Academy Taps Tom Cruise, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas for Honorary Oscars, Dolly Parton for Hersholt Award

The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted to present actor/producer Tom Cruise, actress/producer/choreographer Debbie Allen and production designer Wynn Thomas with Honorary Awards, and actress/singer-songwriter Dolly Parton with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 16th annual Governors Awards, the organization announced Tuesday. The honorees — whose selection was the final decision made by the 55 governors who served on the Academy's board during the 2024-2025 term, including the likes of Pam Abdy, Jason Blum, Ruth E. Carter, Ava DuVernay, Marlee Matlin, Jason Reitman and Eric Roth — will be fêted at a black-tie ceremony at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 16. 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Beloved performer Dolly Parton exemplifies the spirit of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award through her unwavering dedication to charitable efforts. And production designer Wynn Thomas has brought some of the most enduring films to life through a visionary eye and mastery of his craft.' The board annually bestows Honorary Awards for lifetime achievement. (Previous recipients include Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Louis B. Mayer, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Federico Fellini, Sidney Poitier, Steve Martin, Gena Rowlands and, last year, Quincy Jones.) On occasion, it also chooses to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which recognizes the achievements of a creative producer and/or executive (honorees have included Darryl F. Zanuck, David O. Selznick, Jack Warner, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and, last year, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson) and/or the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, celebrating remarkable service to others (honorees have included Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Oprah Winfrey and, last year, Richard Curtis). Each of these honors now comes in the form of an Oscar statuette. * * * Cruise, 62, who is often described as 'the last movie star,' has consistently been a top box-office draw for longer than anyone else in history. His popularity — built on the back of his all-American, boy-next-door smile and swagger, as well as real acting chops and tireless boosterism of his own projects — has spanned 1983's Risky Business through 2025's Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, a period of 42 years, with two chart-topping Top Gun movies, 36 years apart, inbetween, the latter of which, in the view of no less an authority than Steven Spielberg, 'saved Hollywood's ass' in the wake of the global pandemic. Cruise spent the first half of his career working mostly in filmmaker-driven projects. He was directed by Barry Levinson (1988's Rain Man, which won the best picture Oscar), Francis Ford Coppola (1983's The Outsiders), Martin Scorsese (1986's The Color of Money), Oliver Stone (1989's Born on the Fourth of July, for which he received the first of his four Oscar noms), Rob Reiner (1992's A Few Good Men), Sydney Pollack (1993's The Firm), Cameron Crowe (1996's Jerry Maguire, Oscar nom #2, and 2001's Vanilla Sky), Stanley Kubrick (1999's Eyes Wide Shut), Paul Thomas Anderson (1999's Magnolia, Oscar nom #3), Spielberg (2002's Minority Report) and Michael Mann (2004's Collateral). He has spent the second half working mostly in action-oriented flicks of varying quality, but fairly unwavering popularity, in which he famously does many of his own stunts. Among them: eight Mission: Impossible films (1996, 2000, 2006, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2023 and 2025), the first of which also marked his debut producing credit (he also has produced every subsequent installment), plus The Last Samurai (2003), The War of the Worlds (2005), Jack Reacher (2012, also a producer), Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016, also a producer) and Top Gun: Maverick (also a producer, resulting in Oscar nom #4). With few exceptions, the most notable being 2008's Tropic Thunder, Cruise has, over the last 20 years, consistently played a version of Cruise, or at least his well-established screen persona, which audiences still love. 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Her standout work in film has been more limited — beyond Fame, she also acted in 1981's Ragtime; produced 1997's Amistad with Steven Spielberg; and choreographed 2024's The Six Triple Eight. Allen, who also choreographed seven Oscars telecasts, previously has been the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, a Kennedy Center Honor and many other major prizes. * * * Thomas, who got his start in the New York theater, is a revered production designer who is best known for his extensive collaboration with Spike Lee, which encompasses 11 films over 35 years, spanning Lee's feature directorial debut, 1986's She's Gotta Have It, through 2020's Da 5 Bloods, and also includes Lee's most celebrated films, 1989's Do the Right Thing and 1992's Malcolm X. 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Thomas also served on the Academy's board of governors from 2017 through 2023, and was its vice president and chair of its education and outreach committee from 2020 through 2023. * * * Parton, 79, one of the most popular country music stars of all time, made her mark on the movies as an actress (most memorably in 1980's 9 to 5 and 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, for which she received Golden Globe noms) and as a singer/songwriter (garnering best original song Oscar noms for 'Nine to Five' from 9 to 5 and 'Travelin' Thru' from 2005's Transamerica). But her greatest legacy may be her philanthropy. Indeed, the daughter of a man who never learned to read has spent millions of dollars to give away more than 285 million books to children, aiming to inspire a lifelong love of reading. 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