**”Mission: Impossible 8″ Faces Setbacks Due to Submarine Malfunction**
Recently, news has emerged that the filming progress of “Mission: Impossible 8” has been delayed due to a malfunctioning submarine on set, leading to a significant increase in the production budget.
According to reports from “Mirror,” filming of “Mission: Impossible 8” was halted by Paramount after a submarine worth £23 million (approximately $29.4 million or around NT$944 million) experienced a malfunction. Sources revealed that the gimbal, a 120-foot-high structure used to support the submarine underwater, got stuck due to its own weight and required repairs, causing a delay in filming for several weeks and adding substantial production costs.
An insider stated, “They are not happy about it because it’s delaying progress and costing a lot of money every day.” When the production team started adding accessories and ladders inside the submarine, they encountered trouble and realized that the device supporting the submarine couldn’t bear the weight. The repair work is said to be ongoing.
Days before the strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), director Christopher McQuarrie admitted that only 40% of the eighth installment had been completed, with at least half of the feature film yet to be filmed, including the most complex sequences. He anticipated the film’s production to be completed by early 2024. However, due to the impact of the actors’ strike, Paramount postponed the release date from June 2024 to May 23, 2025.
A source told “In Touch” that for Tom Cruise, the filming process during the strike was even slower and more chaotic than shooting “Mission: Impossible 7” at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pressure on Cruise was immense.
The source said, “He carries the weight of the world and risks hundreds of millions of dollars. This is how he deals with adversity. Of course, he will show his famous ‘million-dollar smile’ during filming, but most of the time, he is expressionless, on edge, because he wants to put the final stamp on this movie.”
As early as 2019, Cruise announced that “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” Chapters 1 and 2 would be shot back-to-back. This method, known as tandem shooting, was aimed at saving costs and time by filming both movies sequentially. However, due to the lackluster box office performance of “Mission: Impossible 7: Fallout Chapter 1,” Paramount changed the titles of the seventh and eighth installments.
The source mentioned, “Cruise signed an agreement five years ago to shoot ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies back-to-back, with several months of work still to be done before the movies are ready for release. This is the most significant pressure and adversity he faces during the production process. From now until next summer, whoever stands in his way or has conflicts with him, I worry for that person.”