Tom Cruise agrees to return as super spy Ethan Hunt in fifth installment of Mission Impossible franchise

Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise has signed on to star in the fifth installment of the Mission Impossible franchise and will resume his role as super spy Ethan Hunt.

The 50-year-old actor also will produce the untitled film along with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot company, which also produced the last two Mission Impossible movies, The Daily Mail reports.

The fourth installment Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was released in December 2011 and grossed more than $700million at the box office worldwide.

Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions both confirmed that Cruise had agreed to reprise his role as super spy Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Missions Force to Deadline Hollywood, which reported the exclusive Monday.
The fourth installment of the spy films was directed by Brad Bird and included newcomers Jeremy Renner and Paul Patton.

The film has been Cruise's biggest commercial success to date during his lengthy career.

Cruise produced the first Mission Impossible film in 1996 that was directed by Brian De Palma and based on the television series of the same name.

Paramount and Skydance have not named a director, writer or start date for the fifth film.
Cruise was in Japan on Monday to promote his sci-fi film Oblivion that has received mixed reviews from critics, but huge success at the box office.

The film tells the story of a veteran who is assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources, but begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.

In North America alone it earned $37.1 million during the course of its opening weekend last month, including $5.5 million derived of IMAX screenings from 323 theaters.

These staggering numbers mean it was Cruise's best North American opening outside of the Mission: Impossible film series and War of the Worlds.

Next up Cruise will be starring in Guy Ritchie’s film The Man From U.N.C.L.E alongside Armie Hammer.