While promoting Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise revealed hat he had come up with an idea for an Edge of Tomorrow sequel and pitched it to the film’s co-screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, director Doug Liman and co-star Emily Blunt. When Uproxx caught up with McQuarrie, they asked him if he had interest in working on the sequel.
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He was initially reluctant, but after Cruise made his pitch he became intrigued. Even ifMcQuarrie and Cruise are on board, he knows that decision to move ahead with a sequel rests in other people’s hands. “It all comes down to Warner Bros. and Doug Liman and Emily Blunt saying yes,” McQuarrie told Uproxx. “The idea is there. At worst, it’s the kernel of an idea – which is, on one hand, great, but on the other hand, I know what a nightmare that is. I know that I’ll be in the void trying to figure that out. And even then when it came out in the press after Tom had mentioned it, right away, there were people on social media saying, “Don’t do it, it should never have a sequel, etc., etc.” And I’m just laughing because I’m like, “You guys don’t even know what we are talking about! You have no idea!” Look, that was one of the best creative teams I’ve ever worked with as far as a team of rivals: Emily is one facet of that; Doug Liman is a completely different and opposing force; Tom Cruise is another. And there I am in the middle, just playing to these three really strong, really smart people.”
The marketing of Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow proved to be a challenge that could not be easily overcome not matter how well received they were by critics or audiences. To avoid future headaches, McQuarrie decided to educate himself. “So, on Rogue Nation, I went to marketing right away and said, “Tell me what you need. Tell me how to make a Mission: Impossible and show me what goes into it and educate me,” he explained. “Teach me marketing so I can give you guys the material that you need.” And that is what you saw in the marketing campaign.”
If Edge of Tomorrow does get a sequel,McQuarrie believes he now has the ability to insure that it is marketable. “What I’ve learned, having made Mission, is what I would write into the movie to make that movie an easier sell,” he said.
When Earth falls under attack from invincible aliens, no military unit in the world is able to beat them. Maj. William Cage (Tom Cruise), an officer who has never seen combat, is assigned to a suicide mission. Killed within moments, Cage finds himself thrown into a time loop, in which he relives the same brutal fight — and his death — over and over again. However, Cage’s fighting skills improve with each encore, bringing him and a comrade (Emily Blunt) ever closer to defeating the aliens.
