Mission: Impossible IV enlists Incredibles director

Oscar-winning filmmaker Brad Bird is making the jump from animation to live-action, after being tapped to direct the forthcoming instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

The Pixar regular, whose credits include writing and directing the Academy Award-winning animated films The Incredibles and Ratatouille, will make his live-action debut with Mission: Impossible IV, Tom Cruise confirmed to Empire magazine.

"Everything's signed.… Brad is doing it," Cruise said in an interview with the cinema magazine, praising Bird as "enormously talented."

Bird also directed the animated feature film The Iron Giant and penned the screenplay for Batteries Not Included.

In February, Paramount Pictures confirmed that Cruise would return as the star of the action-packed spy franchise, but that J.J. Abrams — who produced and directed the last instalment — would return solely as producer.

A story idea by Cruise and Abrams is being transformed into a script by Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec.

Cruise helped revive the popular 1960s-era TV series in 1996, with Mission: Impossible, directed by Brian De Palma. A sequel directed by John Woo followed in 2000, with Abrams's edition released in 2006.

Though originally slated for release in late May 2011 — where it would be up against other early summer blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and a sequel to The Hangover — Mission: Impossible IV is now set to hit theatres in December 2011.