Netflix Quietly Removed 5 'Mission: Impossible' Movies This Month

Netflix adds and removes movies from its catalog all the time, with a huge influx of projects typically happening on the first day of every month. This May, one fan-favorite action franchise was the victim of a mass exodus from the streaming platform.

The first five Mission: Impossible movies were removed from Netflix in the United States on May 1, 2026. They were added to the platform just one month prior, where they joined later entries such as Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.

Now, the franchise has moved back to its regular home on Paramount Plus, where every single movie can be accessed with a valid subscription. The series has been distributed by Paramount ever since 1994's Mission: Impossible, so the streaming platform has all the rights to the franchise.

The decision to temporarily move Mission: Impossible to Netflix was a strategic one to introduce a much wider audience to this beloved franchise for the first time. There are certain licensing agreements that typically prevent streamers from sharing movies like this, but Paramount and Netflix managed to strike a lucrative deal to offer up the franchise for a month.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened—earlier this year, Netflix temporarily acquired the rights to the entire James Bond franchise. Every single Eon-produced Bond movie was placed on Netflix in the United States (and other international territories) for a brief period, before they were later returned to Amazon Prime Video.

The Mission: Impossible franchise officially came to an end last year with the release of The Final Reckoning, which took Tom Cruise's protagonist Ethan Hunt on one final mission to save humanity from an artificial intelligence with world-ending plans.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many complaining that it lacked the dynamic originality that made previous entries so compelling, but fans generally agreed that The Final Reckoning closed the franchise in a way that was fitting and satisfying. It currently sits at 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite pulling in $598 million at the worldwide box office, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning was generally considered a commercial disappointment due to its staggeringly high budget of $350 million (via Box Office Mojo). This immense budget was partially a result of delayed production due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those without valid Netflix or Paramount Plus subscriptions can purchase or rent the entire Mission: Impossible franchise on any major VOD service, such as Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV.