Paramount Shifts ‘Mission: Impossible 5’ Release Date to Summer 2015

Tom Cruise will be back in theaters as Ethan Hunt sooner than expected. 

Paramount and Skydance Productions have moved up the release of Mission: Impossible 5 from Christmas of this year to July 31, 2015 — the same weekend used to launch Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, proving that August can be a lucrative corridor for event films.

At the same time, Paramount has pushed back live-action/CGI hybrid Monster Trucks from May 29, 2015 to Dec. 25, 2015.

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Since MI5 will be completed earlier than expected, the studio decided to distance the film from J.J. Abrams‘ Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, which rolls into theaters Dec. 18. (Abrams, who directed Cruise in Mission: Impossible III, is a producer on MI5.)

MI5 will also get out of the way of MGM and Sony’s James Bond sequel, Spectre, which opens Nov. 6, according to insiders.

In its new summer home, the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise will go up against Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros.’ Point Break redux as well as Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Christopher McQuarrie, who teamed with Cruise on Paramount’s Jack Reacher, is directing MI5. The last film, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, released in December 2011, earned nearly $650 million globally — a franchise best.