Don't mess with a winning formula.
Director Christopher McQuarrie's "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" was a hit with critics and audiences alike (92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and, more importantly, at the box office ($682 million worldwide). So it shouldn't come as that big of a surprise that the franchise is finally doubling up on directors and bringing McQuarrie (who also directed Tom Cruise in "Jack Reacher") back for "Mission: Impossible 6."
McQuarrie himself broke the news earlier today on Twitter (but be careful, this tweet is going to self-destruct).
Mission: Accepted #MI6
— ChristopherMcQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) November 30, 2015
Certain basic components of the franchise have stayed the same over the years. Cruise is still the headliner, his gang still includes certain teammates like Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell and the "Mission: Impossible" theme song is still the opening number. But each director has put their own particular spin on the films over the years.
Brian DePalma opened the franchise as your standard but entertaining spy thriller before Jon Woo made Ethan Hunt into a slow-motion Kung-Fu fighter (to mixed results). J.J. Abrams gave the character more worldly attachments and the franchise's best bad guy in Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian. Brad Bird lightened the mood with additional humor in "Ghost Protocol," while McQuarrie borrowed bits and pieces from all his predecessors to deliver a thoroughly enjoyable summer blockbuster.
Although we now know who will be directing "Mission: Impossible 6," we still have no idea what the movie will actually be about. "Rogue Nation" was a somewhat self-contained story that didn't really set up any major future storylines. The Syndicate could surely make a return, but outside of that your guess is as good as ours.
We'll keep you posted as more details emerge.
