Next ‘Mission: Impossible’ Delayed a Year as Actors Strike Drags On  

Tom Cruise attends the premiere of "Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning - Part One" at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, July 10, 2023, in New York. (AP)
Tom Cruise attends the premiere of "Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning - Part One" at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, July 10, 2023, in New York. (AP)
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Next ‘Mission: Impossible’ Delayed a Year as Actors Strike Drags On  

Tom Cruise attends the premiere of "Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning - Part One" at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, July 10, 2023, in New York. (AP)
Tom Cruise attends the premiere of "Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning - Part One" at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, July 10, 2023, in New York. (AP)

The eighth installment of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise has been postponed a year, signaling a new wave of release schedule juggling for Hollywood studios as the actors strike surpasses three months of work stoppage.

Paramount Pictures on Monday shifted the release date of the next “Mission: Impossible” from June 28 to May 23, 2025. Production on the follow-up to Christopher McQuarrie's “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” was paused in July while Tom Cruise and company embarked on an international promotion blitz for “Dead Reckoning.” (The sequel had been titled “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two” but is now simply listed currently as “Mission: Impossible.”)

“Dead Reckoning” ultimately grossed $567.5 million worldwide, falling shy of 2018 installment “Fallout” ($791.7 million globally) and the heady highs of Cruise's summer 2022 blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.5 billion). The 163-minute-long action thriller, drew some of the best reviews of the 27-year-old movie franchise, but was quickly eclipsed by the box-office juggernauts of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”

As Hollywood's labor turmoil has continued, it's increasingly upended release plans not just for movies this fall that want to wait until their stars can promote them (like “Dune: Part Two,” postponed to March), but some of next year's top big-screen attractions.

A string of Marvel movies have previously shifted back, as did the third “Venom” film. “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” has been delayed indefinitely after being dated for March 2024.

Paramount also announced Monday that “A Quiet Place: Day One,” a prequel to the post-apocalyptic horror series starring Lupita Nyong’o, will have its release pushed from March to when “Dead Reckoning” had been scheduled to open, on June 28.

Negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the studios are scheduled to resume Tuesday.



Doctor Charged in Connection with Matthew Perry’s Death Is Expected to Plead Guilty

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP)
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP)
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Doctor Charged in Connection with Matthew Perry’s Death Is Expected to Plead Guilty

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP)
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP)

One of two doctors charged in the investigation of the death of Matthew Perry is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in a federal court in Los Angeles to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.

Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in August and would be the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of the “Friends” star’s fatal overdose last year.

Prosecutors offered lesser charges to Chavez and two others in exchange for their cooperation as they go after two targets they deem more responsible for the overdose death: another doctor and an alleged dealer that they say was known as “ketamine queen” of Los Angeles.

Chavez is free on bond after turning over his passport and surrendering his medical license, among other conditions.

His lawyer Matthew Binninger said after Chavez’s first court appearance on Aug. 30 that he is “incredibly remorseful” and is “trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here.”

Also working with federal prosecutors are Perry’s assistant, who admitted to helping him obtain and inject ketamine, and a Perry acquaintance, who admitted to acting as a drug messenger and middleman.

The three are helping prosecutors in their prosecution of Dr. Salvador Plasencia, charged with illegally selling ketamine to Perry in the month before his death, and Jasveen Sangha, a woman who authorities say sold the actor the lethal dose of ketamine. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Chavez admitted in his plea agreement that he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription.

After a guilty plea, he could get up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28. The medical examiner ruled ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.

Perry began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before the actor’s death, he found Plasencia, who in turn asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.

After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to.”

Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom.