Mission Impossible’s Italy shoot delayed due to Coronavirus threat

Coronavirus has become the new age plague spreading like wildfire and engulfing the entire world and as it seems, just about everything is being affected. Owing to the outbreak of the virus in Italy, a planned three-week shoot for Tom Cruise’s new Mission: Impossible film has been postponed.

Shooting for the seventh installment of the film was due to have started on Monday in Venice, where the final two days of the lagoon city’s annual Carnival festival was canceled earlier. New Corona virus cases have climbed over 220  and Italy has shut down much of its wealthy north to curb the disease’s spread.

“Out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew, and efforts of the local Venetian government to halt public gatherings in response to the threat of Corona virus, we are altering the production plan for our three-week shoot in Venice, the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for Mission: Impossible 7,” Paramount Pictures said in a statement.

The studio has allowed the film crew to return home because of the delay while it will “continue to monitor this situation” in Italy.

The 7th installment of the popular action franchise is expected to release in July 2021. An eighth installment is already set for 2022. Tom Cruise will be reprising his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt in both movies with Christopher McQuarrie returning as director.