Tom Cruise, here in Top Gun: Maverick, stole the show at CinemaCon. Image: Paramount
Early footage from 2023 of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 just got screened at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and we’re here to bring you all about it tell.
First off, yes, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 is the official title of what we’ve long dubbed Mission: Impossible 7 (which means we’re assuming Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 2 will be the title from Mission Impossible 8). And while it won’t last well over a year — the release date is July 14, 2023 — Paramount has shown a full trailer for the film. The reason? We suspect it will be included with the release of Top Gun: Maverick, Star Tom Cruise’s other big blockbuster, next month, although Paramount hadn’t confirmed that at the time of release.
Still, as you’d expect, the trailer was action-packed, with a very unique looking key apparently playing a big part. There were action scenes on horses, on a submarine, on a train going through a tunnel (very similar to the first film), and even a shot of a train going off a cliff. We also see Cruise and Hayley Atwell in a tiny yellow Fiat in a chase down the streets of an ornate old town. All of this culminates with Cruise hurtling off a cliff on a motorcycle, letting go of that motorcycle and causing it to crash while he pulls a parachute and slides to the ground. Filmed from above. For real. (Which we know because Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie showed a series of shots of it at CinemaCon 2021.)
The star and director also appeared on screen with a pre-taped introduction to the footage (as well as Top Gun: Maverick), which was shot in the air over a giant mountain range with Cruise standing on an airplane. Literally. McQuarrie then came alongside him on another plane to tell him they had to return to filming Mission: Impossible 8. Then the three planes (two on screen, one on film) all turned sharply to the left and flew down. With Cruise still atop it.
Since Paramount chose to show Top Gun: Maverick in its entirety (which we won’t cover because it’s more of a direct action film, but I still loved it very, very much), the rest of its presentation was a bit shorter than others studios. We’ve seen some logos for upcoming films, like John Krasinski’s Mysterious If starring Ryan Reynolds and A Quiet Place Day One. And then a roll of film from a few other films, including two big genre films: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts opens on June 9, 2023, and while few shots were shown at CinemaCon, they were super cool. There was one from Optimus Prime that looked very similar to the mix of Michael Bay and G1 designs we saw in Bumblebee. A couple of shots of star Anthony Ramos reacting to what we’re assuming can only be giant robots coming his way. One of him was driving and saw about six identical Porsches criss-crossing in front of him, and even a shot of what we think might be a Transformer, Arcee, rolling alongside a large Volkswagen van. You couldn’t really tell what was going on overall, but it was obvious that the film would have the size and scope of the previous Transformers films. You can read more about the plot and Beast Wars connections from previous reports.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters on March 2nd, 2023 and sadly didn’t show much footage either. What we did see, however, were tall, beautiful views, Chris Pine and Regé-Jean Page in elaborate armor, and most importantly, some of the movie characters standing in some sort of arena that revolved around them. Like platforms that rise and fall from the ground. i will be honest I don’t know much about D&D so I’m at a loss as to whether this is something from mythology or not – but I took a film I wasn’t interested in and certainly moved the scale. It certainly seems like the franchise is treated with the utmost respect.
And that concludes io9’s CinemaCon 2022 coverage. Thank you for reading and see you next year.
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