This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the first Mission: Impossible, which released on May 22, 1996. A reboot of the 1966 and 1988 series, the film helped cement Tom Cruise as a movie star during his domination period in the 80s and 90s, and spawned a massive franchise that seems unlikely to go on without him anytime soon. But it’s not the only Mission movie to celebrate an anniversary in 2026. Mission: Impossible 3 turned 20 years old earlier in May, and Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol will hit its 15th birthday at year’s end. Everyone has their own rankings of the series, but for anyone looking to understand it, this particular trio will show Mission’s evolution and endurance. The first movie introduced the world to Ethan Hunt, a wholly new character and the last of his IMF team to not die or go rogue. Anyone attached to (or was in) either of the two Mission shows was certainly not happy to see Cruise’s OC headlining a big action flick with the show’s name over it. But to everyone else, it was a thrill ride thanks to his performance and Brian De Palma’s direction, and it’s no wonder it became 1996’s third-highest-grossing movie. It may have come out a decade before the trend really took hold, but Mission really ushered in Hollywood’s reboot craze and set a standard that most others haven’t been able to reach, or at least not with the same consistency.