This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the first Mission: Impossible, which released on May 22, 1996. A reboot of the 1966 and 1988 series, the film helped cement Tom Cruise as a movie star during his domination period in the 80s and 90s, and spawned a massive franchise that seems unlikely to go on without him anytime soon.
But it’s not the only Mission movie to celebrate an anniversary in 2026. Mission: Impossible 3 turned 20 years old earlier in May, and Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol will hit its 15th birthday at year’s end. Everyone has their own rankings of the series, but for anyone looking to understand it, this particular trio will show Mission’s evolution and endurance.
The first movie introduced the world to Ethan Hunt, a wholly new character and the last of his IMF team to not die or go rogue. Anyone attached to (or was in) either of the two Mission shows was certainly not happy to see Cruise’s OC headlining a big action flick with the show’s name over it. But to everyone else, it was a thrill ride thanks to his performance and Brian De Palma’s direction, and it’s no wonder it became 1996’s third-highest-grossing movie. It may have come out a decade before the trend really took hold, but Mission really ushered in Hollywood’s reboot craze and set a standard that most others haven’t been able to reach, or at least not with the same consistency.
Depending on who you ask, Mission: Impossible II is either a misfire or misunderstood genius. However one feels, Mission 3 and Ghost Protocol feel like direct responses to the second film, with both trying to humanize Ethan through one relationship or near-death experience after another. They’re also a package deal where the franchise fully grows into itself—the idea of “the Mission stunt” that makes these worth seeing in theaters, or seeing who Ethan’s next formidable enemy will be, begin with this pair of films. If the first Mission helped cement Cruise as a star, the third and fourth make clear he’s a man ready to do anything for you to buy a ticket, even at the cost of his own life.
Having landed a producer credit on the first Mission, Cruise has used directors to shape his character as he sees fit. Thrillseeker, ladies man, best friend, prick you can’t help but like—there’s a good amount of vanity at play here, but the movies mostly get around that strain of criticism by turning Ethan into a walking crash test dummy everyone has to keep up with. That he’s actually died a handful of times and can’t not hurt himself makes for some great comedy in the later installments, even more when he’s aware he just has to let fate decide what’ll happen to him.
That Ethan and Cruise are ready to risk it all are born from Ghost Protocol, which is easily the most important entry in the series. Other than its killer trailer that still holds up, Ghost’s biggest impact was introducing Christopher McQuarrie into the franchise. His relationship with Cruise first started with the 2009 film Valkyrie, but it was mid-production rewrites on Ghost where McQuarrie officially became Cruise’s guy—not only did the two team on every Mission movie going forward, they also partnered on Edge of Tomorrow, The Mummy, and both Jack Reacher films. And on its own merits, Ghost Protocol was a hit that revitalized the franchise to its current state and stood as its highest-grossing entry for nearly a decade until 2018’s Mission: Impossible—Fallout.
After last year’s Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, the series seems to be done for the forseeable future. Cruise is at Warner Bros. working with other directors (and trying to reignite some other franchises), while McQuarrie’s set his sights on Conan the Barbarian. The movies’ track record is solid enough that Final is a good note to end on, but if there were another one…well, I don’t think it’d be turned down so long as the right filmmakers and stunts came along.
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