In a win for Paramount, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning has landed a May 30 release date in Chinese theaters.

The Tom Cruise-led action tentpole joins a growing slate of Hollywood fare making its way into the Middle Kingdom this year, with Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch and Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon recently securing their own mainland debuts. A Minecraft Movie continues its theatrical run in China as 2025’s leading Hollywood import in the territory.

These approvals suggest Beijing isn’t yet following through on its April warning to “moderately reduce” American film imports—a threatened response to President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods. However, since then, Trump has initiated a 90-day pause in the U.S.-China tariff conflict, reducing U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China has lowered its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports from 125% to 10%. This temporary truce, effective from May 14, aims to de-escalate trade tensions and provide a window for further negotiations. Trump hailed the move as a “total reset.”

The easing of political tensions could explain the recent approvals, including Paramount’s latest entry into China’s lucrative market.

For Paramount, the China booking represents a crucial box office opportunity for the eighth installment in the espionage franchise, which has amassed over $4 billion globally, with approximately $500 million from Chinese audiences alone.

Meanwhile, the film made a splashy debut at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, with Cruise, director Christopher McQuarrie, and key cast in attendance.

Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman praised the “thrillingly doom-laden” climax and said Cruise “literally flies beyond all the stunts he’s done before,” leaving audiences in “an exhilarated state of awe.”


With global box office stakes high and diplomatic tides shifting, The Final Reckoning may prove to be not just a cinematic climax, but a symbolic one for Hollywood’s evolving role in China.