Mission: Impossible Movies: Every Film, Watch Order and What Is Next

The Mission: Impossible franchise is a series of eight theatrical spy films about Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), played by Tom Cruise in every one of them. It began with Mission: Impossible (1996), directed by Brian De Palma, and reached what was marketed as its final chapter with Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025), directed by Christopher McQuarrie. The films follow a formula of a small team, an impossible assignment and the Lalo Schifrin theme, which sits on the soundtrack of the first film. There are eight films and no theatrical spin offs, so the whole series fits on one list. You can see how many films there are and which is which on the how many Mission Impossible movies page.

Directors changed often at first. Mission: Impossible II (2000) was directed by John Woo, Mission: Impossible III (2006) by J.J. Abrams in his directing debut, and Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) by Brad Bird, who was making his first live action film. McQuarrie then stayed for the rest, directing Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible: Fallout (2018), Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and The Final Reckoning. As such, the series reads as two eras: four films under four different filmmakers, then four films under one. The later stories lean on each other more, which you will notice when you reach the Entity storyline in the last two.

Is Mission: Impossible a thriller? Yes, in the sense that every film is built on an espionage plot. The first film has Ethan hunting a mole after a botched operation in Prague. The second sends him after an engineered virus called Chimera and its cure. The third has him chasing the arms dealer Owen Davian, who is searching for the Rabbit's Foot. Ghost Protocol starts with stolen Russian nuclear launch codes, Rogue Nation introduces a secret group of rogue former spies called the Syndicate, and Fallout revolves around three stolen plutonium cores. The last two films pit Ethan against the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence. Spy thriller is the fair label, with the action set piece as the main selling point.

That selling point is mostly practical. Cruise climbed the outside of the Burj Khalifa himself for Ghost Protocol, according to Entertainment Tonight, and trained for the HALO jump in Fallout. For Dead Reckoning Part One he reportedly prepared for the Norway cliff motorcycle jump with more than 500 skydives and 13,000 motorcycle jumps, according to Today. Rogue Nation hung him off an A400M transport plane. If you want the stunt by stunt breakdown, the Mission Impossible stunts page covers it.

The money has grown along with the ambition. Box Office Mojo lists a budget of $80 million for the 1996 film and $350 million for The Final Reckoning, which grossed $599 million worldwide. The biggest earner is Fallout at $824 million worldwide, and the smallest is Mission: Impossible III at $398 million. Runtimes stretch too, from 111 minutes for the first film to 170 minutes for the eighth. The full table sits on the Mission Impossible box office page.

Here is the analysis that the numbers support. It could be argued that Fallout is the series' most efficient film: $824 million worldwide on a $178 million budget is more than four times its cost, while The Final Reckoning took $599 million on $350 million, and Dead Reckoning Part One took $571 million on $291 million, both under twice their budgets. The same split shows in the filmmaking. Mission: Impossible III arrived after Fincher and Carnahan exited and Cruise's schedule moved around War of the Worlds, according to NBC News, which is why Abrams, a first time film director, got the job. The McQuarrie era, by contrast, built each set piece around a single stunt Cruise could do on camera: the A400M door in Rogue Nation, the HALO jump in Fallout and the cliff jump in Dead Reckoning Part One. Perhaps that is why the later films feel more connected, and also why they cost so much more than the 1996 film's $80 million.

Cruise is surrounded by a rotating ensemble. Jon Voight played Jim Phelps in 1996, and Ving Rhames has played Luther Stickell since that first film, including in the last two. Simon Pegg joined as Benji Dunn in the third film, Jeremy Renner played William Brandt in Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, and Rebecca Ferguson played Ilsa Faust in Rogue Nation, Fallout and Dead Reckoning Part One. Hayley Atwell arrived as Grace in Dead Reckoning Part One and returned for The Final Reckoning. The full lineup is on the Mission Impossible cast page, and the team itself is on the IMF team Mission Impossible page. For story order, the Mission Impossible timeline covers every film, and the Mission Impossible soundtrack page covers composers from Danny Elfman to Max Aruj.

In the US, all eight Mission: Impossible films are on Paramount Plus as of 3 November 2026, according to JustWatch data on TMDB. The Final Reckoning is also listed on Amazon Prime Video and MGM Plus in the US, and the earlier films can be rented or bought from Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play and YouTube.

In the UK, the first six films are listed on Paramount Plus and Disney Plus, and several also appear on Netflix, including Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible II, Ghost Protocol and Fallout. Dead Reckoning Part One was listed only to rent or buy at the time of the check, while The Final Reckoning is on Paramount Plus, Sky Go and Now TV Cinema. In Australia, Paramount Plus and Stan list all eight films, and the first six are also on Disney Plus.

Streaming catalogs shift often, so check before you plan a marathon. The latest country by country table is on the where to watch Mission Impossible page.