Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a 2011 American action spy film directed by Brad Bird (in his live-action directorial debut) from a screenplay by the writing team of Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, who also serve as co-producers. Produced by Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk, it is the sequel to Mission: Impossible III (2006) and the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The film stars Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton, with Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Josh Holloway, Anil Kapoor, and Léa Seydoux in supporting roles. In the film, the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is shut down after being publicly implicated in a bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team to go without their usual resources or backup in a life-threatening effort to clear their names.

Development for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol began in August 2009, when Appelbaum and Nemec were hired to write the screenplay (which was later rewritten by eventual series director and writer Christopher McQuarrie). Cruise's return was confirmed by March 2010 after Bird was announced to direct the film, replacing Abrams (who directed the predecessor), who stayed on this film as a producer. The film was officially titled in October 2010, after which, principal photography took place and lasted until March 2011, with filming locations including Bangalore, Mumbai, Budapest, Moscow, Dubai, and Canadian Motion Picture Park Studios in Vancouver. Like previous entries in the franchise, the cast, most notably Cruise, completed most of their own stunts, while parts of the film were shot in IMAX.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival on December 7, 2011, and was released in IMAX and select large-format theaters on December 16, before being theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on December 21. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences, Cruise's performance, and Bird's direction. It grossed $694.7 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2011, as well as the highest-grossing film in the franchise and the highest-grossing film starring Cruise until it was surpassed by Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). Retrospective reviews later credit the film for revitalizing the Mission: Impossible franchise back into mainstream success. The film was followed by Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation in 2015.