Mission: Impossible III
2006 film by J. J. Abrams
Mission: Impossible III (abbreviated as M:i:III) is a 2006 American action spy film directed by J. J. Abrams (in his feature film directorial debut), and produced by and starring Tom Cruise, from a screenplay by Abrams and the writing team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. It is a standalone sequel to Mission: Impossible (1996) and Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) and the third installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. It also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, and Laurence Fishburne. In Mission: Impossible III, retired Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent and trainer Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is forced to return to active duty to capture elusive arms dealer Owen Davian (Hoffman).
Development for a third Mission: Impossible film began in 2002, with David Fincher slated to direct; he and his eventual replacement Joe Carnahan both departed by 2004, both citing creative differences. Abrams was hired later at the behest of Cruise, who was a fan of Abrams's Alias (2001–2006), but this further delayed production on the film due to Abrams's contractual obligations for Alias and Lost (2004–2010), and caused prospective cast additions Kenneth Branagh, Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson to depart the film. Principal photography began in July 2005 and lasted until that November, with filming locations including Shanghai, Berlin, Rome, Los Angeles and Vatican City.
Mission: Impossible III premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2006, and was released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on May 5, 2006. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its pace and stunts, and was considered an improvement over its predecessors. The film grossed over $398 million worldwide, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2006; despite being the lowest-grossing film in the franchise, the film was still a box-office success.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mission: Impossible III” as 2006 film by J. J. Abrams. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2006 film by J. J. Abrams. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q288173. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006, 1996, 2000 and 2002.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mission: Impossible III”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mission: Impossible III primary sources, Mission: Impossible III archive and Mission research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mission: Impossible III”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mission: Impossible III” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.