Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has confirmed its epic record-breaking runtime.

Set for release in UK cinemas on 21 May and US cinemas on 23 May, the new movie will follow on from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.

The Final Reckoning clocks in at an impressive 2 hours and 49 minutes, making it the longest movie of the entire franchise, beating Dead Reckoning’s 2 hours and 43 minute runtime.

This makes it six minutes longer than the last instalment, which previously took the record for the longest in the action franchise, ahead of 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which has a runtime of 2 hours and 27 minutes.

Starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible 8 sees Angela Bassett return to the franchise as Erika Sloane alongside Hayley Atwell, who returns as Grace.

tom cruise as ethan hunt, simon pegg as benji dunn, mission impossible 8 final reckoning

Paramount Pictures and Skydance

Related: Watch Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning‘s action-packed new trailer

Also returning are Esai Morales as Gabriel, Pom Klementieff as Paris, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, and Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg as Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn.

Newcomers for this movie include Hannah Waddingham, Katy O’Brian, Janet McTeer and Lucy Tulugarjuk as well as Severance star Tramell Tillman.

Previous reports suggested that the film could mark Cruise’s final mission as Hunt, but writer and director Chris McQuarrie had a different opinion.

tom cruise plays ethan hunt, pom klementieff plays paris, greg tarzan davis plays degas, simon pegg plays benji dunn and hayley atwell plays grace, mission impossible 8 final reckoning

Paramount Pictures and Skydance

Related: Best streaming services

Back in 2023, he said: “Look, we’re still shooting [The Final Reckoning] and there’s any number of ways that that story could play out.

“When you’re watching Mission: Impossible, and watching the team go through these adventures, you’re having some sense of what it’s like to make a Mission: Impossible movie.

“There’s always a plan, the plan always changes, everything goes completely awry, and hopefully everything always turns out alright in the end. But you never really fully understand, or trust where it is you’re going, until you get there.”

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is released in UK cinemas on May 21 and in US cinemas on May 23.

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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy. 

A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre. 

In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.