Mission in South Africa

IMPOSSIBLE: MUCH OF TOM CRUISE MOVIE WAS SHOT LOCALLY

- Citizen reporter

The tenth biggest box office hit of 2025 so far, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning premiered on Showmax on Wednesday and screens on M-Net (DStv 101) at 8pm on Sunday, 28 December.

The final instalment in the franchise sends Ethan Hunt (four-time Oscar nominee Tom Cruise) after The Entity, a rogue AI system.

The Final Reckoning was partly shot in South Africa with Moonlighting Films.

This included a wild, 15-minute biplane chase sequence, using Mpumalanga’s Blyde River Canyon for the opening flight, KwaZulu-Natal’s Drakensberg for the midair plane-to-plane transfer and wing-walking, and the Wild Coast for the climactic cockpit fight.

“That sequence is like Top Gun meets Mission: Impossible - the best of both worlds,” says Durban-born stunt coordinator and second-unit director Wade Eastwood, who recommended the locations. Eastwood has been a core member of the MI team since Rogue Nation, winning multiple stunt awards.