Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Mission Impossible 4 with guest host Stef Z! Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a 2011 American action spy thriller film. It is the fourth installment in theMission: Impossible series, and director Brad Bird's first live-action film. It stars Tom Cruise, who reprises his role of IMFAgent Ethan Hunt, with Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton as his supporting team. Ghost Protocol was written by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, and produced by Cruise, J. J. Abrams (the third film's director) and Bryan Burk. It saw the return of the first film's editor, Paul Hirsch, and is also the first Mission: Impossible film to be partially filmed using IMAX cameras. The film was released in North America by Paramount Pictures on December 16, 2011. The film was preceded by Mission: Impossible III (2006) and followed by Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015). Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol became the highest-grossin