Mission: Impossible 8 Title Change Inspires A Mass Renaming On Twitter

The title of Tom Cruise's next spy adventure — "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two" — for all intents and purposes is dead, leading fans to speculate what the film's new subtitle will be.

News about the title change came October 23 when Variety posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "'Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two' is dropping the second half of its title, 'Dead Reckoning Part Two.' It will presumably be renamed before hitting the big screen."

Responses to Variety's post naturally included options for new names for director Christopher McQuarrie's movie, although most were clearly done in jest. For his suggestion, @CarolinaCharles posted "Mission Impossible: Barbie Protocol," an amalgam of the names of the summer's biggest box office hit and the fourth "Mission: Impossible" installment.

X user @MartinDevlin went with the same line of thinking, posting, "Need to rename it 'Barbie 2' if they want it to make money." The tweet is a humorous jab at the massive budget for "Dead Reckoning Part One," which grossed an underwhelming $556.5 million at the worldwide box office against a $290 million budget.

In addition, @DuckDustFM replied with a title a bit more non-descript, posting, "Mission Impossible: Something Else."

The same day word surfaced about the title change of "Dead Reckoning Part Two," news broke that the "Mission: Impossible 8" release date has been delayed from June 2024 to May 23, 2025. The move, according to The Hollywood Reporter, was prompted by the industry-wide work stoppage because of the SAG-AFTRA strike that began in July — just as work was to resume on the film.

With the delayed release, Paramount Pictures will have more time to figure out a subtitle that best replaces "Dead Reckoning Part Two." The first two sequels to the 1996 original had numerals in their titles. Subsequent chapters feature subtitles, beginning with "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" in 2011.

While some of the responses to Variety's X post had fun with Paramount's "Mission: Impossible" naming quandary, some users took to the platform to criticize the shortcomings of the title "Dead Reckoning Part One."

X user @EricJHovland posted, "Someone at Paramount should have told them that including Part 1 in a film title is a surefire way to suppress its box office potential." Meanwhile, @Goddess_Maxwell posted, "I enjoyed the first 'Dead Reckoning.' But it was a bad idea marketing as a 'part 1'. Even having a cliffhanger, films can be individually named. 'Empire Strikes Back' for example."

One other issue X users pointed out was the illogical idea of a "Dead Reckoning Part One" film existing with no clear follow-up. In his post, @Pat_Kc wrote, "It's gonna be awkward in the eventual box set with DEAD RECKONING PART ONE with no part 2."