Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 to film in the UK

The next two films in the Mission: Impossible franchise are set to film in the UK.

The high-octane features will shoot back-to-back next year with Christopher McQuarrie returning to write and direct both.

Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson are also lined up to return as leads, with Hayley Atwell among those joining the cast this time around.

The films have been massive hits for Cruise and, more recently, McQuarrie, with the first in 1996 set six years after the previous TV sequel series.

The Paramount franchise of six films to date has grossed more than $3.5bn worldwide, and is famous for its sweeping global locations and Cruise’s dangerous stunts.

The latest in the series to be released, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, shot scenes in southern wilderness spots of New Zealand, with a production base nearby in Queenstown.

Aerial sequences were filmed in the South Island’s Fiordland National Park, Mount Aspiring National Park and Skippers Canyon, with a Kashmiri village set constructed in the Rees Valley.

It also filmed in Paris, where the production team secured assistance from the military to shut down key landmarks in the city for short, specific windows of shooting time, including the Arc de Triomphe for two hours on a Sunday morning.

Images: © 2018 Paramount Pictures.