!['Mission: Impossible VII' Halts Filming Due to Coronavirus Outbreak](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/mifallout_2018_05-h_2020.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1)
The upcoming Mission: Impossible installment has stopped production in Venice, due to a Coronavirus outbreak in Italy. The country has more than 150 confirmed cases, with the government shutting Venice’s carnival celebrations.
“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 coronavirus, 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,” a spokesperson for Paramount on Monday told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “During this hiatus we want to be mindful of the concerns of the crew and are allowing them to return home until production starts. We will continue to monitor this situation, and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.”
Franchise star Tom Cruise was not in Italy for the shoot. Christopher McQuarrie, who helmed 2015’s Rogue Nation and 2018’s Fallout, is writing and directing the seventh and eighth installments of Mission: Impossible back-to-back for Paramount and Skydance.
Cruise again stars as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, with the cast also including Rebecca Ferguson, Nicholas Hoult, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny, who is returning to the franchise for the first time in 25 years.
The next Mission: Impossible film is dated for a July 23, 2021, release, while the eighth installment is set to bow Aug. 5, 2022.
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