Per his annual tradition, Tom Cruise was dead set on sending a message to impress theater owners at CinemaCon. The actor and producer delivered with a new trailer for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, as well as 20 minutes of footage from the upcoming film.

“Tom wanted us to let you know, this is not the opening of the film,” said Paramount distribution boss Chris Aronson in introducing the 20-minute scene, noting that he is not prone to hyperbole, but he believes this film is a high water mark for the franchise.

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The footage included an inventive chase scene in which Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is handcuffed to Hayley Atwell’s character as they flee police and multiple factions of people who want them, most notably a character played by Pom Klementieff, whose most frightening feature is how much she seems to enjoy the chase and its ensuing mayhem.

Dead Reckoning: Part One hails from Cruise good luck charm Christopher McQuarrie, who has directed, written or produced a number of his projects over the past decade. It has a release date of July 12 (moved up two days), with Dead Reckoning: Part Two expected for June 28, 2024.

Other stars include Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett, Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Rob Delaney and Charles Parnell.

In years past, Cruise debuted stunts from previous movies, such as hanging from the side of a plane, skydiving or jumping a motorbike off a cliff in Norway.

Cruise is a favorite of theater owners. He resisted putting Top Gun: Maverick on streaming, and it ended up being the top-grossing domestic feature released in 2022 with $774.7 million domestic, for a total of $1.49 billion globally. (Cruise was also handsomely rewarded for his patience, earning around $100 million from Maverick thanks to its gross.)

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