There’s a general rule that studios do not comment on the test screening process, though occasionally you’ll get a quote from a publicist saying something has “tested through the roof” when they know they’ve got a hit.
That appears to be the case with the upcoming seventh “Mission: Impossible” film as none other than Bob Bakish, president of Paramount Global, has gone on the record about the first test screenings for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”.
Appearing at a Paramount panel at the 2023 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference on March 8th, Bakish talked about the film’s early testing process and from the sounds of it the movie is going to boast a massive runtime.
To date, the most recent entry “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” was the longest in the franchise at 147 minutes whereas this sounds like it’s going longer. Bakish says:
“I haven’t seen all of ‘M-I:7,’ but I’ve seen a bunch of it. We actually just did the first test screening for an audience last week, and the audience lost their mind. And it’s still too long, they’ve got to cut it. But the movie is insane. It’s like a complete thrill ride. And Tom, he’s very good.”
The last film “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” was the highest-grossing movie of the series, taking in $791.6 million worldwide. With the success of Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” there’s the obvious question as to whether the new one could be the first in the series to near or break the billion mark.
Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny star in the film which boasts a budget upwards of $290 million and opens July 14th.
Source: Indiewire
