Mission: Impossible 8 set photos reveal Tom Cruise’s next death-defying stunt

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
(Image credit: Paramount)

Tom Cruise: Stuntman is showing no signs of slowing down if these new Mission: Impossible 8 set photos are any indication.

Previous M:I movies have already seen the Ethan Hunt actor perform HALO jumps, hang from helicopters, and shatter his ankle after leaping across a building. For his next trick? Hanging upside down on a World War 2-era plane.

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As per The Sun, Cruise took to the skies on the wing of a 1941 Boeing Stearman biplane and perched on the aircraft. And this was only for rehearsals. We feel a little queasy just looking at it.

A source close to the newspaper said: "Tom had started to learn to fly a Boeing Stearman biplane earlier this year for a major stunt scene in Mission: Impossible 8."

Mission: Impossible 7, meanwhile, has wrapped filming. Mission: Impossible 8 is, more or less, being filmed back-to-back.

No footage has been publicly released yet, however a sizzle reel of behind-the-scenes material was shown at this year’s CinemaCon – with Tom Cruise in similar death-defying form in a motorcycle jump.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Aaron Crouch: "Cruise trained for a year doing 500 skydives and 13,000 motorbike jumps. They captured this on day one of principal photography. Genuinely scary watching him do this."

Mission: Impossible 7 is set to release on September 30, 2022. Mission: Impossible 8 is hitting cinemas just under a year later on July 7, 2023.

For more on what else is coming to a big screen near you in 2022, check out our guide to movie release dates.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.