Before Tom Cruise and Doug Liman team up to make SpaceX Project in outer space, Russia is hoping to beat them to it with the new film, Challenge.

Ahead of Tom Cruise's plan to shoot a feature film in space, Russia hopes to beat the American to it. Cruise has been keeping very busy of late, as his upcoming film roster includesMission: Impossible 7 andMission: Impossible 8 (which are currently in production), as well as the completedTop Gun: Maverick. The sequel to the 1980s classic would have seen its release this year if it weren't for the ongoing COVID pandemic. It's now set to come out in July 2021, a handful of months beforeMission: Impossible 7. And after that, he's got something even bigger planned.

Cruise'shard work in filmmaking has continuously impressed. Known for completing many death defying stunts across the world, Cruise is scheduled to shoot a movie in outer space with Doug Liman, whom he worked with onEdge of Tomorrow.The film, currently known as the SpaceX Project, is expected to start production late next year with the help of NASA, as well astechnologyinnovator and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.SpaceX Project boasts a $200 million production budget, and will shoot on the International Space Station. It's certainly an ambitious project, but Cruise could get beaten to the punch depending on how things play out.

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Sky News has reportedthat Russian space agency Roscosmos and Channel One are lookingto start production in October 2021 on Challenge, a film that Channel One CEOKonstantin Ernst says"is not science fiction, this is a very realistic version of what may happen in the near future". They have also put out a casting call for an actress to appear in the film, whom will ideally be a Russian citizen, have no criminal record, and have a "chest girth of 112 cm", to be trained as acosmonaut-researcher. Plot details of Cruise's space film are currently unknown,exceptthat he will be in a starring role, also planning to begin production in October 2021.

The space race is back on. While this fun film battle may not carry the same repercussions than that of the Cold War, Cruise is clearly a very determined, and at times aggressive, film producer, as evident by his recent on-set rant concerning crew members not following COVID guidelines. While that may have recently been called out as a publicity stunt, the news still goes a long way in indicating that Cruise and his team will rise to the challenge of being the first narrative film production crew to ever shoot in space. Though the Russians' casting call isn't very telling in terms of Challenge's plot, it is still slightly more information in terms of what audiencesmight be seeing in the near future, meaning Cruise, Musk, Liman and NASA have a bit of catching up to do. After the Edge Of Tomorrowduo of Cruise and Liman demonstrated potential for great action spectacle in that film,their outer space film hasthe slight edge of a proven track record, as opposed to the Russian film castingunknowns. However, audiences will have to wait for a long time to find out.

Seeking an exclusive theatrical release, Tom Cruise's SpaceX Project has mounting competition from Russia'sRoscosmos and Channel One.Challengehopes to find its "big international star" soon in order for training to begin for outer space travel. Whichever film shoots on the International Space Station first will no doubt have audiences' full attention for being an historical moment, provided all the principal photography goes smoothly.

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Source: Sky News.

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Darius Azadeh is a film and television news writer for ScreenRant. After graduating university, he went on to report at the world's leading film festivals, including Cannes, BFI London and Raindance, writing reviews, think pieces and interviews. While he continues to do so, his love for cheesy shlock is never ending, despite claiming Le Cercle Rouge to be one of his all time favorites.Based out of Birmingham, U.K., he also works as an event organizer and part time programmer at an independent cinema.

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Russia Wants To Film A Movie In Space Before Tom Cruise Does - Screen Rant