It looks like working with Tom Cruise may just be a lucky charm for director Christopher McQuarrie. The Jack Reacher director and Valkyrie writer is reportedly Cruise's pick to step in and helm another another Paramount Pictures blockbuster for the actor, and this time it’s a big one: the studio’s long-lived franchise Mission: Impossible. According to Deadline, the planning has begun for Mission: Impossible 5, and who better to wrangle Cruise once more than the man who just guided him as former military police officer, drifter, and one-shot-one-kill gunman Jack Reacher?

Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures, who are partnering to bring the fifth installment of the M:I series to the big screen could not be reached for comment at the time of publication. However, this next step for McQuarrie seems almost too natural. The buzz around Jack Reacher is significant for Paramount, as is the follow-up to the $695 million-grossing flick Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Plus, the studio has already shown great confidence in the writer/director and his ability to work well with Cruise.

As a writer, McQuarrie’s been involved with many of Cruise’s films, including 2014’s All You Need is Kill and the sequel to Top Gun, which has stalled since Tony Scott’s passing. McQuarrie is also setting up to adapt Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse for the studio and Cruise. It would almost be a crime if they weren’t eyeing him to take on their biggest existing franchise.

M:I 5 is still in the primary stages of development, and is still shopping for writers. However, hiring McQuarrie seems like a bit of a no-brainer, once they’ve got the other wheels in motion.

[Photo Credit: Tim Grant/WireImage]

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