Tom Cruise says he is hanging on to his "Mission: Impossible" role as agent Ethan Hunt. (Holly Hilgenberg — Paramount Pictures/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Q: What happened to part two of the latest “Mission: Impossible” film?

A: Fans of the Tom Cruise action series will recall that the latest movie, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” arrived in 2023. The title (and the ending, for that matter) indicated there would be another film, and it is coming in May 2025, the delay being in part because of the Hollywood strikes.

But the new film is not titled “Part Two.” Instead, the title will be “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The change appears to have been based on the so-so performance of “Dead Reckoning,” with Rotten Tomatoes speculating that the studio “didn’t want to scare away potential audiences by explicitly marking it as the Part 2 to a Part 1 that moviegoers largely skipped.”

While the title makes this sound like a wrap-up of Cruise as Ethan Hunt, the actor has said he’d like to continue his impossible missions after this one.

In the ‘Red’

Q: “Red One” was supposed to be on Amazon Prime Video, but they put it in theaters first. It did not generating the box-office numbers expected, so it has been called a bomb. How would Amazon justify the cost if it was only on Prime Video?

A: The movie did generate some income at the box office, more than a lot of movies do, albeit far less than the reported budget. Now that it’s on Prime Video, viewers are catching up. As I write this, “Red One” is the No. 1 movie on Prime Video. Variety reported that Amazon says its big movies don’t need to score on the big screen to be deemed a winner: “The deep-pocketed streamer cares about much more than box office grosses and views the big screen as a way to generate buzz for Prime Video.” Did that work here? Variety says one clue will be if Amazon orders “Red One Two.”

Shipshape

Q: I’ve been watching old episodes of “JAG,” and I wonder: How did creator Donald P. Bellisario and company get that much cooperation from the Navy?

A: As the series was ending in 2005, the Los Angeles Times said the military “offered script advice and access to bases for filming,” although there were occasional episodes where it did not cooperate. Still, overall, “The Navy never looks bad in ‘JAG,’” one officer told the Times. “The show had to have bad guys on it or there would have been no drama. — In the end though, the Navy does the right thing — bad people are punished and good people are rewarded.”

Fred and Virginia

Q: I have watched “Holiday Inn” many times. I am wondering about Fred Astaire’s dancing partner, Lila, played by Virginia Dale. I thought she was good. Did she and Astaire dance again?

A: According to “The Film Encyclopedia,” Dale (1917-1994) appeared in a couple of dozen movies and several TV shows over the course of her career, but her best-known role remains “Holiday Inn,” the 1942 musical with Astaire, Bing Crosby and songs by Irving Berlin. As far as I can tell, it was also the only time she danced with Astaire or Crosby.

Finally, last week’s column mentioned “Casey Jones,” the ‘50s series starring Alan Hale Jr. as the famous engineer. Several Twin Cities readers checked in about “Lunch with Casey,” a long-running local kids’ TV show that featured Roger Awsumb hosting as engineer Casey Jones, along with songs, cartoons and skits. Fans may want to take a look at the fan website devoted to the show, lunchwithcasey.com.

Write to brenfels@gmail.com.