Mission: Impossible 7 Production Halted in Italy Due to Coronavirus

As concerns and number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus continue to rise, so does the illness’ impact on entertainment. The latest is the production of Paramount‘s Mission: Impossible 7. The film’s planned production in Italy has been halted due to the local government in Venice putting a halt to all public gatherings as a result of the coronavirus which currently has 219 reported cases in the country — the largest number outside of China, Japan, and South Korea.

According to a report from Deadline, Mission: Impossible 7 had been set to film in Venice for three weeks then would have moved to other locations. However, the coronavirus outbreak has shaken that up a bit and, as various other European countries take their own precautions against the illness including the closing of borders, it’s now a bit uncertain how things will proceed, though a statement from Paramount notes that they will continue to monitor the situation.

“Out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew, and efforts of the local Venetian government to halt public gatherings in response to the threat of coronavirus, we are altering the production plan for our three week shoot in Venice, the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for Mission: Impossible 7,” the statement reads. “During this hiatus we want to be mindful of the concerns of the crew and are allowing them to return home until production starts. We will continue to monitor this situation and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.”

Mission: Impossible 7 isn’t the only film to be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, either. Earlier this month it was announced that the Beijing premiere and Chinese press tour for the twenty-fifth entry in the James Bond franchise, No Time to Die, had been cancelled due to the ever-evolving epidemic. The outbreak has also lead to the indefinite shutdown of many Chinese movie theaters as well as other closures, such as the Ghibli Museum in Japan which announced that it will be closed from February 25 through March 17 after Tokyo requested that public gatherings be canceled for the foreseeable future.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible 7 will star Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby, Nicholas Hoult, and Shea Whigham. The film is set to hit theaters on July 23, 2021 while Mission: Impossible 8 is slated for August 25, 2022.