'Mission: Impossible 7' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' release dates pushed back again

The films have hit another delay because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases caused by the Delta variant

'Top Gun: Maverick' starring Tom Cruise has once again been postponed owing to the rise in coronavirus cases and the Delta variant in the US. AP

Paramount is delaying the release of its Tom Cruise films Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7, pushing them back to 2022 due to concerns over the rise of Covid-19 cases caused by the Delta variant.

Top Gun: Maverick had a release date of November 19, but has now been pushed back to May 27, while Mission: Impossible 7, which had the original date of May 27, 2022, has now been shifted to September 30.

Deadline reports that Paramount is worried about lacklustre box office numbers owing to the pandemic and would rather delay the films in the hopes that things improve, rather than risk a low turnout from cinemagoers on the previously scheduled dates.

However, despite the delay, there are still a number of major films due to be released in the coming months in the UAE.

Disney’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings comes out on Thursday, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, which was partially filmed in the UAE, will be released on Thursday, September 23, and the anticipated James Bond flick No Time to Die will be out on Thursday, October 7.

The news of Mission: Impossible 7, which was partly shot in Abu Dhabi, being delayed also comes after it was reported that Paramount had filed a US lawsuit against Federal Insurance Company claiming its $5 million pay out had only compensated for a fraction of Covid-related losses.

The studio said production was forced to stop seven times during the pandemic, for reasons including coronavirus cases among the crew and travel restrictions in the UK and Italy.

Tom Cruise on the set of 'Mission Impossible 7' in Rome, Italy, in October 2020. Reuters

According to Paramount, Federal claimed that many of the losses incurred were not covered by the insurance and it would not compensate for production stopped by positive tests.

"Remarkably, Federal stated that there was no evidence that those cast and crew members could not continue their duties, despite being infected with Sars-Cov-2 and posing an undeniable risk to other individuals involved with the production," the Paramount lawsuit said.