No mission is impossible for secret agent Ethan Hunt, nor it seems for his alter ego Tom Cruise, who famously scaled the world's largest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for the most recent "Mission Impossible" installment, Ghost Protocol." But can the actor pull off perhaps an even grander feat: keeping his espionage series fresh while continuing to push the action-movie envelope? Audiences will be able to judge for themselves, as Cruise said he'll continue to make "Mission: Impossible" films as long as audiences clamor to see them.
"I started 'Mission: Impossible' hoping I could make many of them. It's a character that I can grow with," Cruise told Total Film magazine. "At that time it was the most expensive film in the history of Paramount Pictures, and the first film I was producing."
It's an investment that's paid off for the studio: the four "Mission: Impossible" films have grossed approximately $740 million to date, domestically. Audiences clearly continue to be enthralled by the inner-workings of the IMF.
"It's been pretty exciting. I'll make a bunch of those," Cruise continued. "I'll make as many as people want to see...because they're very challenging, and so much fun to make."
And in his role as star and producer, Cruise never stops thinking about where to take the franchise next, even while globe-trotting to film and promote other projects, like the upcoming "Jack Reacher."
"We're already working on different images. Talking conceptually," he said of "Mission: Impossible 5." "I love travelling around promoting different movies because I'm always looking at different places, and I always walk around to see the city. I look at architecture, subways... coming up with different sequences."
No release date has been set for "Mission: Impossible 5."