If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

From the Paris Olympics to the first Final Reckoning trailer - Mission: Impossible’s Ethan Hunt is back, baby

Sorry Smile 2, Mission Impossible is the king of viral marketing campaigns now.

Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Trailer screenshot
Image credit: Paramount Pictures

There's stunt marketing, and then there's stunt marketing.

If you watched the 2024 Paris Olympics, you were lucky enough to witness (and will likely never forget), the Tom Cruise-starring Olympics Closing Ceremony, during which the actor hopped on a motorcycle, plane, and eventually parachute to deliver the Olympic flag to Los Angeles, where the Simmer 2028 games will be held. If you're a fan of the Mission: Impossible series, you likely thought that Tom looked an awful lot like his character, Ethan Hunt. Well, you weren't wrong - Cruise's action-packed Olympics sequence was at least in part a kind of first teaser for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, which released its first trailer. Check it out here:

 

 

Your eyes don't deceive you - not only was Cruise doing very Ethan Hunt-esque things for the Olympics this year, but the outfit he was wearing is exactly the one in the trailer you just watched. Don't just take our word for it, either; this is taken directly from an official Paramount Pictures PR statement, which reads as follows:

"As seen in the trailer, Tom Cruise wears the same wardrobe as 'Ethan Hunt' in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning that he did performing the epic stunt for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony on August 11, 2024."

You have to hand it to Paramount, that's pretty damn clever. We all recall viral marketing campaigns like the Smile horror movies or, if you're of a certain age and genre fandom, the ARG mystery of the first Cloverfield. But those PR stunts weren't able to snag the Olympics as part of their ploy. I don't have the expertise to guarantee it, but Mission: Impossible may have just changed the movie marketing game forever.

The fashion game, too, come to think of it. Now we all know the exact outfit to wear while clinging to the side of a biplane. 


Catch up on the Mission Impossible series with the Dead Reckoning ending explained

Grant DeArmitt

Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. As Popverse's Staff Writer, he criss-crosses the pop culture landscape bringing you the news and opinions about the big things (and the next big things). In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.

Comments

Want to join the discussion? Please activate your account first.
Visit Reedpop ID if you need to resend the confirmation email.

View Comments (0)

Find out how we conduct our review by reading our review policy