Summer seems so far away, but when you're working on a blockbuster like "Mission: Impossible 5," a July release date is closer than it seems. In a curious turn of events, production has halted on the latest Tom Cruise blockbuster so director Christopher McQuarrie and an anonymous writer could work out a new ending. Filming began last September, but hey, there's no time like the present for some good old brainstorming.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, McQuarrie's creative partner is "a writer friend whose identity remains a mystery and who will neither be paid nor credited." Their only reward will be the knowledge that they made Cruise's "Mission" possible.

This isn't the first time a studio has pressed paused on an expensive flick, and it's even possible that "M:I5" will still turn out to be a huge moneymaker. As per THR, Paramount pulled it off with "World War Z," which proved so successful that a sequel will begin filming in October. It's highly likely that Cruise's star power will still pull in mega-bucks around the world, no matter how this "Mission" ends.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]