Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Mission: Impossible 4

10/7/10 - Lea Seydoux will square off against Tom Cruise in Paramount's M:I4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Seydoux will play the lead female villain, which just began shooting in Europe.  The movie features two Europeans as its heavies, with Michael Nyqvist, already on board as the male side of the villain coin. The movie, being directed by Brad Bird, has new franchise faces Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Vladimir Mashkov joining regulars Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg.

9/29/10 - Josh Holloway is joining M:I4 as a member of the Impossible Mission Force, the secret agent task force headed by Tom Cruise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The cast also includes newcomers Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Vladimir Mashkov, and franchise veterans Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg.  The production is scouting locations in Vancouver, Prague and Dubai for a fall shoot with an eye toward a December 2011 release. Brad Bird is directing.

9/27/10 - Michael Nyqvist will play one of the lead villains in Mission: Impossible 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The Paramount movie, being directed by Brad Bird, has slowly been pulling together its cast, with new faces Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Vladimir Mashkov joining Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg. The production is scouting locations in Vancouver, Prague and Dubai for a December 2011 release.

8/26/10 - Jeremy Renner has been cast opposite Tom Cruise in the next installment of Mission: Impossible 4, which is aiming for a Dec. 16, 2011 release date, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Brad Bird is directing a script from Josh Applebaum and André Nemec, with shooting expected to begin in the fall.  As Paramount, Cruise and producer J.J. Abrams had discussed a new dynamic for the fourth film, the plan was for younger actors to join the M:I team as a hedge if they decided to reboot the series at some point with Cruise’s character absent or less central.

7/19/10 - Simon Pegg is being brought back to Mission Impossible 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The actor is in negotiations to reprise his character of lab geek Benji Dunn.  While not officially greenlighted, the movie is tracking for an early September start, and director Brad Bird has been reading actors this week. Tom Cruise is returning as agent Ethan Hunt in a plot whose details are being kept under a lid of secrecy. The move also would reunite Pegg with producer J.J. Abrams. 

5/6/10 - Mission: Impossible 4 will arrive in theaters on December 16, 2011, Paramount confirmed to Access Hollywood.  Brad Bird may direct.  Tom Cruise will co-produce the film alongside J.J. Abrams

2/9/10 – Reuters reported that Paramount Pictures said Tom Cruise will star in a new Mission: Impossible movie set for release in 2011 and produced by Cruise and J.J. Abrams.  Cruise and Abrams last teamed up in 2006 for Mission: Impossible III, with Cruise in the role of super agent Ethan Hunt who battles bad guys and saves the world from evil.  Paramount said Cruise and Abrams dreamed up an original idea for a fourth film and were back together again.  "Tom and J.J. are great talents and we are excited to be working with them to re-launch this legendary franchise," Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey said in a statement.  Screenwriters Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec will write the script, and a director has not yet been named.

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