After recruiting big names like Brian DePalma and John Woo for the first two (pretty awful) films in the Mission Impossible series, star/producer Tom Cruise went the non-traditional route for the series’ third installment and hired JJ Abrams on the strength of his work on Alias. The result was easily the best of the trilogy and one of the best action movies of the aughties. Now everything JJ Abrams attaches his name to is gold and Brian De Palma couldn’t get hired for the Paranormal Activity sequel.

So today brought the great news that Cruise has chosen another newcomer to action filmmaking for the Mission Impossible IV: animation superstar Brad Bird. Bird’s track record is stellar — The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille — and hopefully the film’s success will break his long-gestating 1906 project out of development hell.

Of course, there’s some bad news too: the film will be scripted by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, the… brains?… behind TV’s October Road and the Life On Mars remake. Even worse, the film will probably be abbreviated as M:I:IV (“miiiiivvv!”), though that’s a slight step up from its predecessor M:I:III (“miiiiiii!”).