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‘Mission: Impossible 7’: Everything We Know About Tom Cruise’s Latest Death-Defying Installment ‘Dead Reckoning Part One’

By Angelique Jackson

Angelique Jackson

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Your mission — should you choose to accept it — is to head to theaters on July 14, 2023 for the long-awaited (and COVID-delayed) seventh installment of Tom Cruise ’s “Mission: Impossible” film franchise.

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” marks Cruise’s latest outing as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), who embarks on an operation which — as the title suggests — promises to be his most dangerous yet.

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In the behind-the-scenes clip, which first debuted for theater owners at CinemaCon in 2021 , Cruise, McQuarrie and the film’s crew demonstrated how they pulled off a stunt where the actor drives a motorcycle up a ramp and off a cliff, leading into a base jump, which was a highlight of the movie’s first trailer.

So excited to share what we’ve been working on. #MissionImpossible pic.twitter.com/rIyiLzQdMG — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 19, 2022

“This is far and away the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted,” Cruise said of the stunt, which is billed as the “biggest in cinema history.”

To train for the complicated sequence, Cruise skydived over 500 times and did about 13,000 motocross jumps.

“I have to get so good at this that there’s just no way I can miss my marks,” Cruise explained, reinforcing just how perilous this all is.

“Coming up with the stunt is just one of the technical challenges,” McQuarrie added. “The other is putting a camera in a place where you can see where Tom is doing it — finding the right lens, the right platform, the right medium. Even two years ago, the cameras didn’t exist that would allow us to do what we’re trying to do today.”

Here’s everything you need to know about “Dead Reckoning Part One”:

What does “Dead Reckoning” mean?

The seventh “Mission: Impossible” movie’s title was officially revealed at CinemaCon in April 2021 , and fans immediately wondered what the mysterious phrase might signal for Ethan and the IMF team. “Dead reckoning” is a navigational term, McQuarrie noted in an interview with Empire magazine , where he explained the connection between the phrase and the plot.

“There are many things emerging from Ethan’s past,” the filmmaker told the magazine. “[Dead reckoning] means you’re picking a course based solely on your last known position and that becomes quite the metaphor not only for Ethan, but several characters.”

The film’s first trailer gave a glimpse into exactly which ghosts from Ethan’s past might reappear, beginning with Henry Czerny, who reprises his role as former IMF director Eugene Kittridge for the first time in more than 25 years.

“Your days of fighting for the so-called ‘Greater Good’ are over,” Cherny’s Kittridge tells Hunt at the top of the teaser, which previews all the death-defying action sequences to come.

As the tensions builds, Kittridge continues, serving Hunt with an ultimatum: “This is our chance to control the truth. The concepts of right and wrong, for everyone for centuries to come. You’re fighting to save an ideal that doesn’t exist. It never did. You need to pick a side.”

Cruise has starred in and produced all the “Mission: Impossible” movies, which are based on the 1966 television series created by Bruce Geller and have grossed over $3.5 billion at the box office. While the sequels (2000’s “Mission: Impossible II” and 2006’s “Mission: Impossible III”) used standard-fare Roman numerals to distinguish them, the Brad Bird-helmed fourth film, 2011’s “Ghost Protocol,” bucked that tradition. Then, McQuarrie took over the franchise with the fifth and sixth films, subtitled “Rogue Nation” and “Fallout,” respectively.

“M:I-7” and “M:I-8” were announced In January 2019 with plans to film the movies back-to-back, but the COVID-19 pandemic delays and Cruise’s promotional duties for “Top Gun: Maverick” ultimately scuttled those plans. “Dead Reckoning Part Two,” as it will presumably be called, is currently filming and is scheduled for release on June 28, 2024.

Who’s in the cast?

“Dead Reckoning Part One” follows the events of “Fallout,” where Hunt and his IMF crew saved the world from a nuclear apocalypse amid a series of double-crosses, including a memorable turn from Henry Cavill (as CIA assassin August Walker). The movie was the highest-grossing entry in the franchise, earning nearly $800 million at the box office.

Also returning from “Fallout” are Vanessa Kirby — Alanna Mitsopolis, a black market arms dealer also known as the White Widow — and Frederick Schmidt, as her brother Zola. The siblings are in the family business: Their mother is Max (Vanessa Redgrave), the world-class smuggler Ethan tangoed with in the 1996 original. 

Among the spy thriller’s new players are Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff and Shea Whigham, who all feature prominently in the film’s first footage. Atwell plays a mysterious new character named Grace, while Morales serves as “Dead Reckoning’s” primary villain.

In March 2021, McQuarrie announced that the cast would also include Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell and Mark Gatiss. Rounding out the ensemble are Greg Tarzan Davis (who appeared with Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick”) and Mariela Garriga, both in undisclosed roles. Joining the ensemble for “Mission: Impossible 8” are Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman and Janet McTeer.

COVID Delays

“Dead Reckoning Part One” was initially scheduled to debut on July 23, 2021 before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the film almost exactly two years. Its release date has changed four times.

The production was one of the first major studio films to resume after the pandemic struck, but its globe-trotting shoot proved to be challenging as COVID cases waned and then surged in many of the half-dozen countries where the movie was set to shoot. As the production pivoted locations, it also shut down approximately seven times, and the budget ballooned to $290 million, which far surpassed the $190 million spent on “Fallout.”

While the cost-increases were unavoidable given the circumstances, Cruise also became the champion of COVID-safety on set in December 2020 after an audio clip leaked to the press of him chastising crew members on location in the U.K. for not adhering to the protocols.

As first reported by The Sun , after Cruise saw two crew members standing too close to one another in front of a computer screen, he told the crew: “We are the gold standard. They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. Because they believe in us and what we’re doing. I’m on the phone with every fucking studio at night, insurance companies, producers and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherfuckers. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!”

While the clip was controversial due to Cruise’s obvious frustration, George Clooney was among Cruise’s defenders, telling Howard Stern (via E! Online) that the actor “didn’t overreact because it is a problem.”

Does this mark the end of the line for Ethan?

When news broke that “Dead Reckoning” was planned to be an epic two-part extravaganza, audiences couldn’t help but be reminded of the end of the “Harry Potter,” “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games” franchises, which all ended with two-part finales.

In February, sources told Variety that the two films were designed “as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character,” but filmmakers will neither confirm nor deny that this is his swan song.

“I’ve been working with Tom Cruise for 15 years and I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been standing next to the man, witnessed an event and then read about it in the trades the next day and none of what they describe is actually true,” McQuarrie said when asked directly about the future of the action franchise during an appearance on the “Light the Fuse” podcast.

He added: “You learn to ignore it and laugh at it. In today’s world, you wait 17 minutes and another news cycle will sweep it away.”

Our estimation?

As long as Cruise keeps bringing in the box office bacon, it stands to reason that the impossible missions can — and just might — continue.

… Should he choose to accept them.

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‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’ Review: Still Running

In this franchise’s seventh entry, Tom Cruise’s mission includes increasingly improbable leaps, chases and stunts. Luckily for us, he chooses to accept it.

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By Manohla Dargis

I don’t know if anyone has ever clocked whether Tom Cruise is faster than a speeding bullet. The guy has legs, and guts. His sprints into the near-void have defined and sustained his stardom, becoming his singular superpower. He racks up more miles in “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” the seventh entry in a 27-year-old franchise that repeatedly affirms a movie truism. That is, there are few sights more cinematic than a human being outracing danger and even death onscreen — it’s the ultimate wish fulfillment!

Much remains the same in this latest adventure, including the series’ reliable entertainment quotient and Cruise’s stamina. Once again, he plays Ethan Hunt, the leader of a hush-hush American spy agency, the Impossible Mission Force. Alongside a rotating roster of beautiful kick-ass women (most recently Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby) and loyal handymen (Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames), Ethan has been sprinting, flying, diving and speed-racing across the globe while battling enemy agents, rogue operatives, garden-variety terrorists and armies of minions. Along the way, he has regularly delivered a number of stomach-churning wows, like jumping out a window and climbing the world’s tallest building .

This time, the villain is the very au courant artificial intelligence, here called the Entity. The whole thing is complicated, as these stories tend to be, with stakes as catastrophic as recent news headlines have trumpeted. Or, as an open letter signed by 350 A.I. authorities put it last month: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from A.I. should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” In the face of such calamity, who you gonna call? Analog Man, that’s who, a.k.a. Mr. Hunt, who receives his usual mysterious directives that, this time, have been recorded on a cassette tape, an amusing touch for a movie about the threat poised to the material world by a godlike digital power.

That’s all fine and good, even if the most memorable villain proves to be a Harley Quinn-esque agent of chaos, Paris (Pom Klementieff), who races after Ethan in a Hummer and seems ready to spin off into her own franchise. She tries flattening him during a seamlessly choreographed chase sequence in Rome — the stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, is also a racecar driver — that mixes excellent wheel skills with scares, laughs, thoughtful geometry and precision timing. At one point, Ethan ends up behind the wheel while handcuffed to a new love interest, Grace (Hayley Atwell, another welcome addition), driving and drifting, flirting and burning rubber in what is effectively the action-movie equivalent of a sex scene.

Despite the new faces, there are, unsurprisingly, no real surprises in “Dead Reckoning Part One,” which features a number of dependably showstopping stunts, hits every narrative beat hard and, shrewdly, has just enough winking humor to keep the whole thing from sagging into self-seriousness. This is the third movie in the series that Cruise and the director Christopher McQuarrie have made together, and they have settled into a mutually beneficial groove. On his end, McQuarrie has assembled a fully loaded blockbuster machine that briskly recaps the series’ foundational parameters, adds the requisite twists and, most importantly, showcases his star. For his part, Cruise has once again cranked the superspy dial up to 11.

Over the years, McQuarrie has loosened up the star, who generally seems to be having a pretty good time. Still, it must be exhausting to be Tom Cruise, who famously performs his own stunts. A smattering of creases now radiate around his smile, but time doesn’t seem to have slowed his relentless roll. The most arresting set piece here finds Ethan smoothly sailing off a cliff via a motorbike and a parachute. Improbable, yes? Impossible? Nah. Like the other large-scale, stunt-driven sequences, this showy leap at once underscores Cruise’s skills and reminds you that a real person in a real location on a real motorbike did this lunatic stunt.

Nothing if not a classicist, Ethan also goes one to one with a baddie (Esai Morales) atop a speeding train, perhaps in homage to his cliffhanger moves on another train in the first “ Mission: Impossible ” (1996). In his review, the New York Times critic Stephen Holden observed that with this film Cruise had “found the perfect superhero character.” It’s worth noting that, in 1996, the top 10 movies released in the United States were largely high-concept thrillers and comedies; in 2022, half the top 10 releases were from Marvel or DC. Yet the film that connected most strongly with audiences was Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Although “Maverick” featured plenty of digital whiz-bangery, its most spectacular draw of course was Cruise, who has also remained the single greatest attraction in the “Mission” movies. To that point, while there’s little of substance that I remember about the first film other than it was directed by Brian De Palma, I can vividly picture — with the crystalline recall that only some movies instill — two distinct images of Cruise-Ethan from it. In one, he races away from a tsunami of water and shattered glass; in the second, he hovers inches above a gleaming white floor, his black-clad body stretched head to toe in a near-perfect horizontal line. The filmmakers imprinted those images on my memory; so did Cruise.

Early in the “Mission: Impossible” series, the outlandishness of the movies’ plots and Cruise’s equally fantastical stunts started to make him seem less than human. By the second movie, I wondered if he were disappearing altogether, turning himself into little more than a special effect. Since then, the plots and the stunts have remained impossibly absurd, sometimes enjoyably so, as here. Yet over the years, the series has unexpectedly made Cruise seem more poignantly human than he has sometimes seemed elsewhere. One reason is that the “Mission” movies were instrumental in shifting the locus of his star persona from his easygoing smile — the toothy gleam of “Risky Business” and “Jerry Maguire” — to his hardworking body.

The obvious effort that Cruise puts into his “Mission” stunts and the physical punishment he endures to execute them — signaled by his grimaces and popping muscles — have had a salutary impact on that persona, as has the naked ferocity with which he’s held onto stardom. It’s touching. It’s also difficult to imagine any actor today starting out in a superhero flick reaching a commensurate fame, not only because the movies, Hollywood’s at least, no longer retain the hold on the popular imagination that they once did, but also because the corporately branded superhero suit will always be more important than whoever wears it. Tom Cruise doesn’t need a suit; he was, after all, built for speed. He just needs to keep running.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One Rated PG-13 for thriller violence. Running time: 2 hours 43 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic of The Times, which she joined in 2004. She has an M.A. in cinema studies from New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including Risky Business , A Few Good Men , The Firm , Jerry Maguire , and the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Who Is Tom Cruise?

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, to Mary and Thomas Mapother. Cruise's mother was an amateur actress and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when Cruise was a child to accommodate his father's career.

Cruise's parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and then to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, after she remarried. Like his mother and three sisters, Cruise suffered from dyslexia, which made academic success difficult for him. He excelled in athletics, however, and considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling until a knee injury sidelined him during high school.

At age 14, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary with thoughts of becoming a priest, but he left after a year. When he was 16, a teacher encouraged him to participate in the school's production of the musical Guys and Dolls . After Cruise won the lead of Nathan Detroit, he found himself surprisingly at home on the stage, and a career was born.

'Taps,' 'The Outsiders'

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York City, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981's Endless Love , starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn .

His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise's potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers. In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Outsiders , which also starred Emilio Estevez , Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe —all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the "Brat Pack." The film was not well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director on a high-profile project.

'Risky Business'

His next film, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor — thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.

In 1986, after a two-year hiatus, the budding actor released the big-budget fantasy film Legend , which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruise's A-list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun , which co-starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan . The testosterone-fueled action-romance, set against the backdrop of an elite naval flight school, became the highest-grossing film of 1986.

'The Color of Money,' 'Rain Man' and 'Born on the Fourth of July'

Cruise followed the tremendous success of Top Gun with a string of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. He first starred in The Color of Money (1986) with co-star Paul Newman , and then went on to work with Dustin Hoffman on Rain Man (1988). Cruise's next role, as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm' and 'Interview with a Vampire'

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men . The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his success as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

'Mission: Impossible,' 'Jerry McGuire'

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996), which the star also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Magnolia'

Cruise and then-wife Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut , an erotic thriller that would be director Stanley Kubrick 's final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that year Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia . His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

'Vanilla Sky,' 'The Last Samurai'

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000, alongside Anthony Hopkins , Thandie Newton and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky , his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Steven Spielberg 's Minority Report . The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.

'War of the Worlds'

Cruise proved he remained a top draw by starring in the Spielberg-directed remake of the science-fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which grossed more than $230 million at the box office.

His next effort, Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), also scored well with audiences. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback in August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14-year relationship with the actor. The company's chairman cited Cruise's erratic behavior and controversial views as the reason for the split, though industry experts noted that Paramount more likely ended the partnership over Cruise's high earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Cruise quickly rebounded and on November 2, 2006, he announced his new partnership with film executive Paula Wagner and the United Artists film studio. Their first production as a team, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), proved a commercial disappointment despite a strong cast that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford .

'Tropic Thunder'

Taking a break from weighty material, Cruise delighted audiences with his performance in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Despite his relatively small role in a movie that featured Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller , Cruise stood out by obscuring his trademark good looks to play a balding, obese movie studio executive.

'Valkyrie,' 'Rock of Ages'

In December 2008, Cruise released his second project through United Artists. The film, Valkyrie , was a World War II drama about a plot to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler . Cruise starred as a German army officer who became involved in the conspiracy.

Cruise returned to one of his most popular franchises in 2011 with Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol . Breaking into new territory, he then starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages . Although Cruise received some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

'Jack Reacher,' 'Edge of Tomorrow'

Returning to his mainstream action roots, Cruise starred in the 2012 crime drama Jack Reacher , based on a book by Lee Child. He then headlined a pair of science-fiction adventures, Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Showing no signs of slowing down, the veteran actor in 2015 delivered his usual high-energy performance for the fifth installment of his blockbuster franchise, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation .

Latest Movies and Familiar Franchises

In 2016, Cruise reprised the role of Jack Reacher for Never Go Back . He then headlined a reboot of The Mummy (2017), which performed respectably at the box office but was savaged by critics, before earning better reviews later that year for the crime thriller American Made .

2018 brought a return to familiar territory for Cruise, who starred in Mission Impossible —Fallout that summer. Prior to its release, he tweeted a photo to mark day 1 of production on the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick , scheduled for a June 2020 release.

Scientology and Personal Life

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. It was through Rogers that the actor became a student of Scientology, the religion founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise credited the church with curing his dyslexia, and he soon became one of its leading proponents. However, while his spiritual life flourished, his marriage to Rogers ended in 1990. That same year, Cruise made the racecar drama Days of Thunder alongside Kidman. Though the movie was unpopular among critics and fans alike, the two lead actors had real chemistry. On Christmas Eve 1990, after a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman married in Telluride, Colorado.

Divorce from Kidman

For much of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case, the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity. The couple has two children, Isabella and Connor.

On February 5, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working. Following the divorce, Cruise briefly dated his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz , followed by a much-publicized relationship with actress Katie Holmes. A month after his ties to Holmes became public, Cruise professed his love for the actress in a now-famous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which he jumped on Winfrey's sofa, shouting "Yes!"

Marriage to Katie Holmes

In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel tower. In October, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid gossip. But Cruise made even bigger headlines that year as an outspoken advocate for Scientology. He openly criticized former co-star Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants during her recovery from postpartum depression. He also denounced psychiatry and modern medicine, claiming Scientology held the key to true healing. Cruise's statements led to a heated argument with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show in June 2005, for which Cruise later apologized.

In 2006, Cruise and Holmes welcomed daughter Suri into the world. That year, they were married in an Italian castle, with celebrities Will Smith , Jada Pinkett Smith , Jennifer Lopez and Victoria and David Beckham among those in attendance. However, the storybook romance wouldn't last, and in June 2012, the couple announced their separation.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1962
• Birth date: July 3, 1962
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Syracuse
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including 'Risky Business,' 'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm,' 'Jerry Maguire' and the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Tom Cruise Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/tom-cruise
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• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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TOM CRUISE is a global cultural icon who has made an immeasurable impact on cinema by creating some of the most memorable characters of all time. Having achieved extraordinary success as an actor, producer and philanthropist in a career spanning over three decades, Cruise is a three-time Oscar® nominee and three-time Golden Globe Award® winner whose films have earned over $10 billion in worldwide box office—an incomparable accomplishment. Eighteen of Cruise’s films have grossed over $100 million domestically, and a record 23 have made more than $200 million globally. His latest film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout has made over $775 million worldwide becoming Cruise’s most successful film to date.

Cruise has starred in numerous legendary films such as Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, Risky Business, Minority Report, Interview with the Vampire, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Rain Man, Collateral, The Last Samurai, Edge of Tomorrow, The Color of Money and the Mission: Impossible series, among many others. Combined, the Mission: Impossible franchise has brought in over $3.5 billion since Cruise conceived the idea for a film adaptation of the classic television series and produced the first in 1996. He is currently in production on the long-awaited sequel to Top Gun.

A consummate filmmaker involved in all aspects of production, Cruise has proven his versatility with the films and roles he chooses. He has made 43 films, contributing in a producing role on many of them, and collaborated with a remarkable list of celebrated film directors including Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Martin Scorsese, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, Sydney Pollack, Neil Jordan, Brian De Palma, Cameron Crowe, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ed Zwick, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, J.J. Abrams, Robert Redford, Brad Bird, Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie.

Cruise received Academy Award® nominations for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire. He was a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Magnolia and won Golden Globes (Best Actor) for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, in addition to a Best Supporting Actor prize for Magnolia. He also received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Risky Business, A Few Good Men and The Last Samurai. Cruise has earned acting nominations and awards from BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review.

Cruise’s previous few films include the critically acclaimed American Made, The Mummy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Oblivion and the suspense thriller Jack Reacher, which earned $218 million worldwide. Prior to that, he made a memorable appearance in Ben Stiller’s comedy smash Tropic Thunder, as the foul-mouthed Hollywood movie mogul Les Grossman. This performance, based on a character Cruise created, earned him praise from critics and audiences as well as his seventh Golden Globe nomination.

Cruise has been honored with tributes ranging from Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Man of the Year Award to the John Huston Award from the Artists Rights Foundation and the American Cinematheque Award for Distinguished Achievement in Film. In addition to his artistic contributions, Cruise has used his professional success as a vehicle for positive change, becoming an international advocate, activist and philanthropist in the fields of health, education and human rights. He has been honored by the Mentor LA organization for his work on behalf of the children of Los Angeles and around the world. In 2011 Cruise received the Simon Wiesenthal Humanitarian Award and the following year he received the Entertainment Icon Award from the Friars Club for his outstanding accomplishments in the entertainment industry and in the humanities. He is the fourth person to receive this honor after Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra. Empire magazine awarded Cruise its Legend of Our Lifetime Award in 2014. Most recently, Cruise was the first actor to receive The Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation’s Pioneer of the Year Award in 2018.

• Top Gun: Maverick (2021)
• Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018)
• American Made (2017)
• The Mummy (2017)
• Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
• Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015)
• Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
• Oblivion (2013)
• Jack Reacher (2012)
• Rock of Ages (2012)
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
• Knight and Day (2010)
• Valkyrie (2008)
• Tropic Thunder (2008)
• Lions for Lambs (2007)
• Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• Collateral (2004)
• The Last Samurai (2003)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Vanilla Sky (2002)
• Mission: Impossible 2 (2001)
• Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Jerry Maguire (1996)
• Mission: Impossible (1996)
• Interview with the Vampire (1994)
• The Firm (1993)
• A Few Good Men (1992)
• Far and Away (1992)
• Days of Thunder (1990)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• Rain Man (1988)
• Cocktail (1988)
• The Color of Money (1986)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Legend (1985)
• Risky Business (1983)
• All the Right Moves (1983)
• The Outsiders (1983)
• Losin’ It (1983)
• Taps (1981)
• Endless Love (1981)

Tom Cruise: The Last Movie Star

Where to Watch

Thomas Arnold (Narrator) Tom Cruise (Self) A.A. Dowd (Self) Bilge Ebiri (Self) Dan Jolin (Self) Geoffrey Macnab (Self) Scott Mendelson (Self) Richard Roeper (Self) Paula Wagner (Self)

Tom O'Dell

From "Top Gun" to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, Tom Cruise becomes the world's biggest movie star by risking life and limb to perform death-defying stunts.

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‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’ opens with $80 million at the box office

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Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” opened at the top of the domestic box office over the weekend, amassing $56.2 million during the regular Friday-through-Sunday window, according to studio estimates.

The seventh installment in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise , which debuted in theaters Wednesday, grossed $80 million in ticket sales from the U.S. and Canada during its first five days, coming in shy of pre-release expectations. Early studio projections indicated that the big-budget action thriller would open with about $90 million.

Internationally, the film has earned $155 million for a worldwide total of $235 million.

With an estimated production budget of nearly $300 million, the movie has a long way to go before becoming profitable. The costs for “Dead Reckoning” increased in part because of COVID-19-related delays to filmmaking.

It’s the latest big-budget Hollywood summer picture to fall short of opening weekend expectations (which are based on audience tracking surveys) as the industry’s recovery from the pandemic continues to take shape. Movies including Warner Bros.’s “The Flash” and Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” opened to soft numbers.

But enthusiastic reviews from critics and positive responses from audience surveys indicate that “Dead Reckoning” could play well throughout the summer.

This marks the first “Mission: Impossible” movie to be released early on a Wednesday since “Mission: Impossible II,” which collected $57.8 million over the five-day window in 2000, according to measurement firm Comscore.

The franchise installment before “Dead Reckoning,” 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” opened with $61.2 million in its Friday-through-Sunday frame and collected $77.5 million during its first five days in release.

“The fact that we opened bigger than its predecessor’s first five days speaks volumes about why we did it,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Paramount.

“We’re in the middle of summer, and this has been a disappointing summer in certain respects so far. And we knew we had the goods, and we wanted to get a jump on the marketplace and get this film in theaters in front of moviegoers’ eyeballs as soon as possible.”

Review: Tom Cruise is out to save the movies. Is ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ enough?

Tom Cruise re-teams with director-co-writer Christopher McQuarrie in the first of a two-part saga centered around a mysterious threat to human survival.

July 5, 2023

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” stars Tom Cruise as international super-spy Ethan Hunt on yet another daring quest to save humanity. Among the supporting cast of the feature are Hayley Atwell , Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales and Pom Klementieff.

The latest chapter of the “Mission: Impossible” saga scored a glowing 96% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and an A grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

Entertainment & Arts

Are Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise dating? Star says don’t believe the ‘grubby’ rumors

‘Mission: Impossible’ star Hayley Atwell said in a recent interview that she sees co-star Tom Cruise like an uncle and slammed the ‘invasive’ dating rumors.

July 11, 2023

“Cruise ... once again suffers for our pleasure like no one else, hurling himself and his motorcycle from great heights, fighting in claustrophobically tight spaces and, yes, running and running and running some more,” wrote Times film critic Justin Chang in his review.

“For all that, he knows how to temper his usual superhuman self-seriousness with lightness and wit. He’s even gracious enough to cede some of the spotlight to his co-stars this time around, spending a fair chunk of the movie’s endgame amusingly on the sidelines.”

Company Town

‘Barbie’ + ‘Oppenheimer’ = ‘Barbenheimer.’ Why Hollywood needs the movie mashup

The viral social media phenomenon, inspired by the same-day release of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,’ is the best advertising campaign for moviegoing that no studio could’ve come up with.

The movie’s opening-weekend performance was probably bolstered by the record-breaking success of Cruise’s last onscreen adventure, “Top Gun: Maverick” — which Aronson identified as a direct “comp,” or comparison, for “Dead Reckoning.” Aronson cited Cruise’s undeniable starpower as the main ingredient for the “Mission: Impossible” franchise’s enduring popularity.

“It is a testament to Tom and [McQuarrie], who have elevated these films every single time,” Aronson said.

Rounding out the top three at the domestic box office this weekend are Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom,” which added $27 million in its sophomore outing for a North American cumulative tally of $85.5 million; and Sony Pictures’ “Insidious: The Red Door,” which scared up $13 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $58.1 million.

Next weekend features the ultimate summer movie showdown as Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” squares off against Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer” in wide release.

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Feb. 25, 2024

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Christi Carras reports on the entertainment industry for the Los Angeles Times. She previously covered entertainment news for The Times after graduating from UCLA and working at Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and CNN Newsource.

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Tom Cruise: The Last Movie Star

From "Top Gun" to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, Tom Cruise becomes the world's biggest movie star by risking life and limb to perform death-defying stunts. From "Top Gun" to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, Tom Cruise becomes the world's biggest movie star by risking life and limb to perform death-defying stunts. From "Top Gun" to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, Tom Cruise becomes the world's biggest movie star by risking life and limb to perform death-defying stunts.

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• Oct 31, 2023
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Who Is Elsina Khayrova? 5 Things to Know About Tom Cruise’s Girlfriend

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Tom Cruise has a new love interest.

After Cruise and Elsina Khayrova made their public debut in December, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the pair have been quietly dating for “a while now.”

“They’re very happy,” the insider told Us . “And Tom’s extremely confident about it working out for the long term.”

The source shared that the pair met through mutual friends in London. “What started as a basic friendship quickly turned into something more special,” the insider added.

As for where Cruise’s eldest children, Isabella and Connor, stand with the relationship, the source told Us that they “think Elsina is great and are so happy to see that their dad has love in his life again.” (Cruise shares both children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman . He also shares a daughter with ex-wife Katie Holmes .)

So who is Khayrova? Here’s everything to know about his girlfriend.

Tom Cruise’s Dating History Through the Years: Nicole Kidman, Katie Holmes and More

1. Where Was Elsina Khayrova Born?

Khayrova was born in Russia but now lives in London. Earlier this month, she was spotted with Cruise at a party in London’s Grosvenor Square.

“They’ve hung out at Tom’s favorite private members club and regularly enjoy afternoon tea and gourmet dinners out in London,” the source told Us .

2. Did Elsina Khayrova model?

Khayrova formerly modeled for brands including Graff. In 2015, the luxury diamond jeweler shared a snap via Instagram of her wearing a pair of their earrings.

3. Who is Elsina Khayrova’s father?

Elsina is the daughter of Rinat Khayrova , who is a member of the Russian Military Police.

Tom Cruise Through the Years: His Megahit Movies, Headline-Making Marriages and More

4. Has Elsina Khayrova been in a relationship?

Elsina filed for divorce from Russian oligarch Dmitry Tsvetkov in 2022. The pair separated two years prior after over a decade of marriage. In December, Tsvetkov weighed in on his ex's new relationship with Cruise when he spoke to the Daily Mail.

“Irrespective of whoever she’s with, Tom Cruise or anybody else, they should be aware that she likes the finer things in life and has expensive and luxurious tastes,” he said. “Tom should keep his eyes and wallet wide open.”

He continued: “I'm happy for her, I wish her all the best.”

5. Does Elsina Khayrova have children?

She reportedly shares two children with ex Tsvetkov. In September, Elsina posted a sweet Instagram birthday tribute to her daughter Eva, whom she refers to as her “best friend.”

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Tom Cruise Was Called A 'Control Freak' By Controversial Hollywood Screenwriter

Tom Cruise is one of the most popular actors of our time, appearing in dozens of movies since breaking into show business in 1981. Through hits like "Top Gun" and "Jerry Maguire," he quickly became something of a Hollywood golden boy, but that doesn't make him immune to drama. In fact, Cruise has had some major controversies over the years , facing everything from speculation surrounding his relationship with his estranged daughter Suri Cruise to backlash regarding his devotion to Scientology.

While many of his scandals have been forward-facing, other drama has originated from behind the scenes; his former co-star Thandiwe Newton admitted to being 'scared' while working with him  while his ex-manager made brutal claims about what he's really like . In the 2023 book "Last Post," controversial Hollywood screenwriter Frederic Raphael similarly had some choice words about the "Mission Impossible" star, calling him an "egocentric control freak" (per the  Daily Mail ).

Raphael was the screenwriter for the 1999 movie "Eyes Wide Shut," one of the many films that Cruise has starred in alongside his ex-wife Nicole Kidman . Following the movie's production, the writer published a divisive autobiography titled "Eyes Wide Open," which chronicled his experiences collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film. Raphael's controversial depictions of the director were criticized by the family and colleagues of Kubrick, including Tom Cruise himself.

Tom Cruise criticized Frederic Raphael's statements about Stanley Kubrick

In addition to writing "Eyes Wide Open" about famed director Stanley Kubrick, Frederic Raphael also wrote an essay in The New Yorker about the memoir. It was this essay that was criticized by Tom Cruise in a 1999 interview with Roger Ebert , with the "Interview with a Vampire" star brutally questioning the screenwriter's motives.

"He wouldn't have written it if Stanley had been alive," Cruise told the outlet. "Opportunistic. Self-serving. Inaccurate. I don't know that man at all and I've never met him." Raphael took issue with the Hollywood star's comments, grouping him with Christiane Harlan, Kubrick's wife, and her brother Jan in what he alleges were attempts to wrongly defame his name as a response to his publication. 

"The Harlans and Master Cruise have managed to insert some derogatory stuff in my Wikipedia entry," Raphael wrote, seemingly referring to a reference to Cruise's interview. "'I have never been called a liar by anyone as I have been by the Harlan clan and by Tom Cruise" (per the Daily Mail). Even so, the author alleges that Cruise offered him a job following the movie, something he attributes to the actor's apparent desire for control.

Frederic Raphael is just one of Tom Cruise's many critics

While Frederic Raphael accused Tom Cruise of being a "control freak," the screenwriter admitted to never actually having met the Hollywood figure. Even so, he isn't the first one to have commented publicly about Cruise's temper and ego, as a few of those around him have had somewhat similar things to say.

For one, former Scientology member Leah Remini recounted a moment when Cruise blew up at his assistants over cookie dough he couldn't locate, writing about the outburst in her memoir "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology." Remini told People that the assistants "had the fear of God in them because they knew what was coming," adding, "They are probably still in Florida right now because they disgraced him."

Cruise also appeared to have a meticulous temper in leaked audio published by The Sun , in which he goes off on the crew of "Mission Impossible 7" for failing to effectively follow COVID-19 regulations . With all these negative reports, though, there have been a ton of employees and co-stars who have spoken positively about Cruise.