tom cruise last movie star

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Hollywood’s Last Real Movie Star

At a time when superheroes dominate the box office, the film industry hopes the actor can bring grown-ups back to theaters.

Credit... Taylor Callery

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By Nicole Sperling

• Published May 20, 2022 Updated May 28, 2022

The helicopter had the star’s name painted on it, the letters coming into focus as it landed on the retired aircraft carrier, which was adorned for the occasion with an expansive red carpet and a smattering of fighter jets. Tom Cruise. Top Gun. Maverick.

It couldn’t have been anyone else.

Decked out in a slim-fitting suit, his hair a little shaggier and his face a little craggier than when he first played Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell more than three decades ago, Mr. Cruise took the stage on the U.S.S. Midway while Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic theme music played in the background.

Gesturing to the spectacle around him, including the crowd of fans and media members, Mr. Cruise said: “This moment right here, to see everybody at this time, no masks. Everyone. This is, this is pretty epic.”

It also felt like a time capsule. The three-hour promotional escapade — which included a batch of F-18 fighter jets executing a flyover to the sound of a Lady Gaga song from the film — harkened back to the halcyon days of Hollywood glamour. Days when Disney didn’t think twice about shuttling an aircraft carrier from San Diego to Hawaii for the premiere of Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor” in 2001. Or when the same studio built a 500-seat theater at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the premiere of “Armageddon.” That kind of extravagance seems almost unthinkable today, when the streaming algorithm and its accompanying digital marketing efforts have replaced the old-fashioned boots-on-the-ground publicity tour with stars circumnavigating the globe, and studios spending millions to turn movie openings into cultural events.

Making these events go were the film’s megastars. In Hollywood, stardom has an elastic definition. There are screen legends who are not box office stars. A global movie star is someone whose name is the draw. They have broad appeal, transcending language, international borders and generational differences. In short, they can get people of all ages into theaters around the world by virtue of their screen personas.

They are the kind of stars — like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone — that box office blockbusters were built around for decades.

And they are the kind of stars who no longer really exist. Actors like Dwayne Johnson, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Ryan Reynolds and Chris Pratt are ultra successful but they are also either closely tied to a specific franchise or superhero film or have yet to prove that multigenerational appeal.

Now, it’s the characters that count. Three actors have portrayed Spider-Man and six have donned the Batman cowl for the big screen. Audiences have shown up for all of them. The Avengers may unite to huge box office returns but how much does it matter who’s wearing the tights?

Yet there is Mr. Cruise, trundling along as if the world hasn’t changed at all. For him, in many ways, it hasn’t. He was 24 when “Top Gun” made him box office royalty and he has basically stayed there since, outlasting his contemporaries. He’s the last remaining global star who still only makes movies for movie theaters. He hasn’t ventured into streaming. He hasn’t signed up for a limited series. He hasn’t started his own tequila brand.

Instead, his promotional tour for “Top Gun: Maverick,” which opens on May 27, will last close to three weeks and extend from Mexico City to Japan with a stop in Cannes for the annual film festival. In London, he walked the red carpet with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. (The tour would have been longer and more expansive if Covid protocols didn’t make things so complicated and if he wasn’t in the middle of finishing two “Mission Impossible” movies.)

The actor still commands first dollar gross, which means that in addition to a significant upfront fee, he receives a percentage of the box office gross from the moment the film hits theaters. He is one of the last stars in Hollywood to earn such a sweetheart deal, buoyed by the fact that his 44 films have brought in $4.4 billion at the box office in the United States and Canada alone, according to Box Office Mojo. (Most stars today are paid a salary up front, with bonuses if a film makes certain amounts at the box office.) So if his movies hit, Mr. Cruise makes money. And right now, Hollywood is in dire need of a hit.

Audiences have started creeping back to theaters since the pandemic closed them in 2020. The box office analyst David Gross said that the major Hollywood studios were expected to release roughly 108 films theatrically this year, a 22 percent drop from 2019. Total box office numbers for the year still remain down some 40 percent but the recent performances of “The Batman,” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” have theater owners optimistic that the audience demand is still there. The question is whether the business still works for anything other than special effects-laden superhero movies.

“They just don’t make movies like this anymore,” Brian Robbins, the new chief executive of Paramount Pictures, the studio that financed and produced the $170 million “Top Gun: Maverick,” said in an interview. “This isn’t a big visual effects movie. Tom really trained these actors to be able to fly and perform in real F-18s. No one’s ever done what they’ve done in this movie practically. Its got scale and scope, and it’s also a really emotional movie. That’s not typically what we see in big tent-pole movies today.”

A big box office showing for “Top Gun: Maverick,” would depend in no small part on the over-40 crowd. They are the moviegoers who most fondly recall the original “Top Gun” from 36 years ago — and they are the ones who have been the most reluctant to return to cinemas.

To reinforce his commitment to the industry, Mr. Cruise sent a video message to theater operators at their annual conference in Las Vegas late last month. From the set of “Mission Impossible” in South Africa, standing atop an airborne biplane, Mr. Cruise introduced new footage from his spy movie and the first public screening of “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Let’s go have a great summer,” he said, before his director, flying his own biplane next to Mr. Cruise, shouted “action” and the two planes tore off across the sky.

“Top Gun: Maverick” finished production in 2020 but its release was delayed for two years because of the pandemic. Mr. Cruise declined to comment for this article. But when asked during an interview on the stage of the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday (where eight fighter jets coursed across the skyline, blowing red and blue smoke to match the colors of the French flag) whether there was ever talk of turning the film into a streaming release, Mr. Cruise swatted the idea away. “That was never going to happen,” he said to applause .

Now, theater owners across the country are keeping their fingers crossed that Mr. Cruise’s million-watt smile and his commitment to doing his own stunts — no matter the cost or the fact that he will turn 60 in July — will bring moviegoers back to theaters for what they hope will be a long and fruitful summer.

“There’s been a lot of questions about the older audience and their affinity of going back to the theatrical experience,” Rolando Rodriguez, the chief executive of the Wisconsin-based Marcus Theatres, the fourth-largest theater chain in the country, said in an interview. “‘Top Gun’ is certainly going to bring out the audience of 40 and over and momentum builds momentum.”

Audiences have remained loyal to Mr. Cruise through his offscreen controversies — his connection to Scientology, the infamous couch-jumping interview on “Oprah,” his failed marriages, including to the actress Katie Holmes. And he has remained focused on the process of making movies and then promoting them to as many people as possible — often through very controlled public appearances where he is unlikely to face any uncomfortable questions about his personal life that could embarrass him or turn off moviegoers.

“He eats, sleeps and dreams this job,” said Wyck Godfrey, the former president of production for Paramount. “There is nothing else that takes his attention away. He outworks everyone else. He knows every detail.”

The question now, in the world of streaming and superhero intellectual property, is does it still matter?

‘We Don’t Create Movie Stars Anymore’

Mr. Cruise came of age in Hollywood in the shadow of movie stars like Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. Stallone, where the name above the title meant everything. Show up to see Mr. Schwarzenegger play a cyborg assassin? Sure. How about a cop forced to play with kindergartners? Absolutely. What about a twin separated at birth from an unlikely Danny DeVito? Why not? In those days, the genre didn’t matter. Moviegoers showed up for the actors.

That is not the case today.

“We don’t create movie stars anymore,” said Mr. Godfrey, adding that studios have been pulling back on marketing and publicity commitments for years. “As a result, there are less and less meaningful names who will help open a movie.”

Mr. Robbins agreed that it was much more difficult today to become a global star in the vein of Mr. Cruise, not because of the studios’ commitments but rather the state of the industry.

“It’s Batman. It’s Spiderman. It’s very different,” he said in an interview from Cannes. “And it’s not just because a lot of these characters are hidden by a mask and tights and a cape. It’s a very different type of filmmaking. And the world is different because of streaming, and all of the other content, the fight for attention is just much more fierce than ever before. Thirty-six years ago when ‘Top Gun’ came out, there was no streaming, there was no cellphone. There was no internet. We went to the theater to be entertained. There’s just so much choice now.”

The entertainment world has undergone seismic change. But Mr. Cruise’s success also owes a debt to his tirelessness. Will Smith, in his 2021 memoir, affectionately called Mr. Cruise a “cyborg” when it came to his endurance on the promotional circuit. Reminiscing about his own efforts to reach the pinnacle of stardom, Mr. Smith said that whenever he’d land in a country to hype a new movie, he would ask the local executives for Mr. Cruise’s promotional schedule, which often included four-and-a-half-hour stretches on a red carpet. “And I vowed to do two hours more than whatever he did in every country,” Mr. Smith wrote.

Mr. Smith wasn’t the only one to notice. Studio executives have come to rely on Mr. Cruise’s commitment to promotion as his superpower.

“He’s one of a dying breed that will literally work the world and treat the world as though each region is massively important. Because it is,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution. “So many others roll their eyes. ‘I don’t want to do that.’ With Tom, it’s always built in. It’s a massive undertaking. But it pays off. It’s why he has legions of fans around the world.”

Some would argue that the age of the movie star died when the Marvel Cinematic Universe took over pop culture and movies based on known intellectual property seemed to be the only way to get large numbers of people into theaters. Mr. Cruise has not been immune to these changes.

In the past decade, Mr. Cruise starred in original titles like “American Made,” “Oblivion,” and “Edge of Tomorrow”— all movies that played up his action bona fides. None were hits. His reboot of “The Mummy,” which was supposed to jump start Universal Pictures’ monster movie series, was a disappointment for the studio, generating only $80 million in domestic receipts. The series never took off.

But while not taking part in any superhero franchises, Mr. Cruise has managed to capitalize on intellectual property that he’s already successfully exploited. Roles like the homicide investigator Jack Reacher, and the secret agent Ethan Hunt in “Mission Impossible,” have performed well at the box office. He’s hoping to pull that off again with “Top Gun: Maverick.”

“I think there is so much choice in the world right now with the amount of content that is produced that every movie has turned into a bull’s-eye movie,” said David Ellison, chief executive of Skydance, the producer of “Top Gun: Maverick” and a number of other films with Mr. Cruise. “The opportunity to have something work and be anything less than A-plus is simply not the marketplace that we’re living in.”

Glen Powell, one of Mr. Cruise’s co-stars in “Top Gun: Maverick,” cites him as one of the reasons he pursued acting. Mr. Cruise is also the reason Mr. Powell is in the film. Mr. Powell initially tried out for the role of Rooster, the tough guy son of Maverick’s former wingman Goose — a part that went to Miles Teller. Disappointed when he was offered the role of the cocksure daredevil Hangman instead, Mr. Powell only took the part after Mr. Cruise gave him some advice: Don’t pick the best parts, pick the best movies and make the parts the best you can.

“I will never forget that moment,” Mr. Powell said in an interview. “He asked me, ‘What kind of career do you want?’ And I’m like, ‘You man, I’m trying to be you.’”

As such, he’s studied Mr. Cruise’s career and is trying to emulate it. He’s shied away from the superhero genre, so far, and has some theories on what makes Mr. Cruise unique.

“He is the guy that’s not trying to occupy the I.P. He’s trying to tell a compelling story that just ends up becoming the I.P. because it’s so good,” Mr. Powell said. He sees a substantive difference there — the difference between going to the movies to see Tom Cruise, the movie star, or going to see other I.P. Or, as Mr. Powell puts it: “There’s a difference between stepping into fandom rather than creating your own fandom.”

He knows he’s learned from the master. “Even if I pick up a little of what Tom taught me,” he said, “I’m going to be way more prepared than any other actor out there.”

He might. Or he might be learning from an outdated playbook.

There is a moment in “Top Gun: Maverick” where Ed Harris, playing Maverick’s superior, tells him, “The end is inevitable. Your kind is headed to extinction.”

And Mr. Cruise, still holding on to that brash self-confidence that made him a movie star four decades ago, grins at him and replies, “Maybe so, sir. But not today.”

There are plenty of people in the movie industry who hope he’s right.

Nicole Sperling is a media and entertainment reporter, covering Hollywood and the burgeoning streaming business. She joined The Times in 2019. She previously worked for Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and The Los Angeles Times. More about Nicole Sperling

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Tom Cruise, the Last Movie Star? Hardly — but No Actor Could Copy His Career

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In keeping with the meme of cinema’s end times, it’s easy to use “ Top Gun: Maverick ” — and its presumed box-office dominance — as evidence that Tom Cruise Is the Last Movie Star. It’s nonsense, of course; among the current drivers of Hollywood hits are Sandra Bullock, Tom Holland, Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, and Ryan Reynolds. Timothee Chalamet is a rising star; so is Lady Gaga.

Cruise’s long-awaited sequel to his biggest hit opened to $19.26 million in previews, and could gross $150 million across the four-day Memorial Day weekend. Cruise may not be the last star, and he certainly remains one — but his path to stardom is one that no one will be able to walk again. Unlike almost everyone — everyone — else in Hollywood, he doesn’t make TV, but he might become the first actor to shoot a film in space.

“Maverick” is his 42nd film as a lead; adjusted to 2019 ticket prices, they grossed over $10 billion domestic with 10 of his films reaching $200 million or more. In that kind of raw accounting, Harrison Ford is a “bigger” star thanks to the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises along with many standalone hits. Marvel will similarly skew the box-office numbers for stars like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson.

Not Tom Cruise. While his “Mission: Impossible” franchise created over $1.6 billion in domestic box office to date, the overwhelming majority  of his success comes from standalone films. Nor is he buoyed by awards; although regarded as a nuanced performer who’s excelled in romantic, action, comedic, and dramatic roles, he has three Oscar nominations and no awards from major critics’ groups. Tom Cruise may be the last movie star to be elevated without the muscle of franchise, in a time where moviegoing habits still made that possible.

Here are some of the notable elements that do make him stand apart from most younger current stars:

Eclectic films, avoiding franchises

Cruise made his biggest hit, “Top Gun,” 36 years ago — a period that saw an increasing embrace of sequels and franchises with titles like “Rocky,” “Rambo,” “Karate Kid,” “Romancing the Stone,” and “Star Trek.” Against those, “Top Gun” was a bigger hit than all but “Rocky.”

At this point, Cruise’s career wasn’t entirely under his control; he was an actor, not a producer. But at 23, suddenly he was a star.

Two years earlier, his leading-man debut in “Risky Business” promised a great career. He stumbled with his next film, wrestling drama “All the Right Moves” in 1983; Ridley Scott’s “Legend” also dimmed his promise.

His next film, already shot when “Top Gun” opened, was “The Color of Money.” You can argue that it was a sort-of sequel (to 1961’s “The Hustler,” more than two decades prior), but took 15 years and and 13 films, all grossing $100 million+ in today’s dollars, before he madehis first real sequel with “Mission: Impossible 2.” That trajectory is inconceivable today.

The very best filmmakers

Cruise may be known as a control freak, but he clearly isn’t afraid to collaborate with strong filmmakers. He’s worked with seven Best Director Oscar winners (including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick) as well as Paul Thomas Anderson, John Woo (the only non-white among them), Brad Bird, and the Scotts, Ridley and Tony. There’s been fewer of these in recent years, when it’s harder to create directorial reputations in a more producer-driven era.

In some cases, the Cruise films weren’t iconoclastic works; titles like “War of of the Worlds” and  “The Color of Money” were more commercial, for-hire efforts. However, Oliver Stone won with “Born on the Fourth of July” as did Barry Levinson with “Rain Man.”

Thriving with iconic stars

Cruise came up when it was more common to pair a rising actor with an established veteran. His first pairing came with Paul Newman in “The Color of Money,” followed by Dustin Hoffman (“Rain Man”), Jack Nicholson (“A Few Good Men”), Gene Hackman (“The Firm”), and Meryl Streep (“Lions for Lambs”). He shared the lead in “Collateral” the same year Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for “Ray.” Cruise’s ability to hold his own against titans enhanced his reputation as someone secure in his own talent and willing to share the spotlight.

Less is more

There’s the Scientology, of course. (“It’s something that has helped me incredibly in my life,” he told ITV in 2016. “I’ve been a Scientologist for over 30 years. It’s something, you know, without it, I wouldn’t be where I am. So it’s a beautiful religion. I’m incredibly proud.”) In recent years, there’s been little press about the association — in large part because there’s so little press about him at all.

Try to imagine Cruise maintaining an Instagram profile, or posting TikToks. He avoids interviews — print, talk show, and otherwise. He has no politics. He’s the anti-Dwayne Johnson, who has over 300 million Instagram followers and likes to give his fans surprise appearances (or, in one memorable case, wedding officiant).

Cruise is a near blank. His recent MasterClass interview at Cannes, part of the marketing push for “Top Gun: Maverick,” was noted for its awesome dullness. In a time when stars are urged to make themselves seem relatable or otherwise “real,” Cruise cultivates an image that has more in common with past masters like Cary Grant and John Wayne.

At 59, Cruise is the last star of that mold. “Top Gun: Maverick” is a much different movie than the one that preceded it, which is also appears to be typical Cruise: Surprise people, be patient, expect state-of-the-art craft. It’s consistent with his career, even if the film still seems to stand somewhat outside the current kind of movie success.

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Tom Cruise Turns 61: Inside His $10 Billion Career and Being 'Hollywood's Last Real Movie Star'

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Tom Cruise turns 61 on Monday, marking more than four decades since he broke on to the Hollywood scene and started his ascension to the mega-famous movie star we know today.

Born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, Cruise got his start in bit movie parts before a breakout year in 1983, in which he starred in All the Right Moves, The Outsiders, and his breakthrough hit, Risky Business.

But it was in the 1990s when Cruise began to hit his stride as box office magic. From 1992-96, he made history when he starred in five consecutive movies that grossed $100 million or more in the United States: A Few Good Men, The Firm, Interview With the Vampire, Mission: Impossible and Jerry Maguire .

His starring role as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible has also been a blockbuster boon. So far, the franchise's six films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide, with the seventh --  Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One -- coming to theaters July 12.

"It's unbelievable," Cruise told ET while premiering Dead Reckoning in Rome last month. "I do pinch myself every day.... It's something that I've never taken for granted ... I just feel very privileged."

And then, of course, there's Top Gun. The   iconic original flyboy flick was the highest-grossing domestic film in 1986, and when Cruise returned to the role of Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell last year for Top Gun: Maverick, it was a triumph in more ways than one. The film became Cruise's first to earn over a billion dollars worldwide and was a major success for movie theaters just starting to dig their way out of COVID shutdown difficulties.

"I make movies for audiences," the actor told ET. "I work so hard and I think about them the whole time and when you see how excited they are and how much they appreciate it - it's just beautiful."

In total, the man often referred to as "the last true movie star" has made himself a $10 billion career so far -- and he doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

However, despite the money, and despite the moniker, for Cruise it's all about the craft.

"It's not about being a movie star," he insisted. "It's about being an actor and concentrating on that and finding roles that are going to be a challenge for me... Movie stardom can come and go, but your craft within, you can work forever if you keep working hard at that."

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The Last Movie Star Standing: Unpacking Tom Cruise’s Impossible Mission of a Career

“Top Gun: Maverick” is poised for a $100 million opening. When’s the last time a movie star made THAT happen?

Every so often, over the course of human history, mankind erects mind-bending marvels of immortal splendor, great enigmatic edifices that defy all reason or explanation. The Stonehenge of Salisbury Plain. The Sphinx of Giza. The temple of Angkor Wat. 

Tom Cruise’s career.

The 59-year-old star is about to release his 43rd feature film, “Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel to his 1986 action thriller about a bunch of elite Navy jet pilots who play topless beach volleyball between missions. If the tracking is anywhere on target , it should open, on May 27, with at least $100 million over the four-day holiday weekend. That’s not supposed to happen anymore, at least not for films that don’t involve web-spurting superheroes from the Metaverse.

Indeed, the era of the star-driven tentpole was supposed to have ended around the time Julia Roberts married a cameraman and Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor. Pretty much all the members of the old $100 million club of the 1990s and early 2000s have disbanded and moved on to lesser roles. 

Brad Pitt is now doing glorified cameos in Sandra Bullock movies (or at least he was, until Bullock announced her semi-retirement from acting in March). Jim Carrey barely makes pictures anymore, either (unless you count those trippy watercolors of Donald Trump he keeps exhibiting at art galleries). Even Tom Hanks, once among cinema’s most bankable leading man, seems to be downsizing to second-fiddle parts; his next role is Colonel Parker in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Elvis Presley biopic .

And let’s not forget Will Smith and Johnny Depp. It looks like they’ll be taking extended leaves of absence from the big screen, too.

But not Cruise. Flouting the natural laws of Hollywood, disregarding every box office trend, he remains as big today as he’s ever been, the last old-fashioned action figure still standing. 

That status was all but made official in Cannes last week , where even Cruise seemed gobsmacked when he won an honorary Palm d’Or, and even more surprised by the five-minute ovation the usually jaded festival crowd gave “Top Gun: Maverick” before even a second of the film had played at its May 18 premiere. “This is an incredible evening and an incredible time,” he gushed from the stage. “You all have made my life.”

Of course, like every actor, Cruise’s career has suffered its share of dings. His wacky meltdown on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2005, when he declared his love for Katie Holmes by jumping up and down on Oprah’s sofa like a maniac, was an appalling PR catastrophe. His association with the Church of Scientology has also caused problems, like in 2008 when that nine-minute promotional video got leaked on the internet showing Cruise in a black turtleneck rambling incoherently about “SPs” and “KSW” as the “M.I.” theme song droned on (and on and on) in the background. 

“The Mummy” in 2017, “Rock of Ages” in 2012, “Lions for Lambs” in 2007 — he’s dropped a few bombs along the way, as well. And let’s not even get into those fairy tights he wore in 1985’s “Legend.”

And yet, here we are in 2022, 36 years since the original “Top Gun” was released, and Cruise is still flashing the same 500-watt choppers that made him famous back when Ronald Reagan was president. 

Part of his durability, it has to be said, is due to the fact that, unlike some other aging ’90s actors, he continues to look like a movie star. Pushing 60, he’s still got the same hairline, the same chiseled face and hard-to-miss schnozola, even the same abs (spoiler alert: he removes his shirt so many times in “Top Gun: Maverick” he should probably get checked for melanomas).  

But when you begin poking around Cruise’s 40-year résumé, you can see that his extreme survival skills aren’t just skin deep. You start noticing patterns, career choices that laid the track for long-haul stardom. For starters, almost from the beginning, when he made 1984’s “The Outsiders” with Francis Ford Coppola, he’s picked his directors as if assembling an auteur fantasy league of dream collaborators. Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Neil Jordan, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Steven Spielberg, Sydney Pollack, Stanley freaking Kubrick — for an actor who has never won an Academy Award, who’s best known for clinically insane action stunts, he’s sure kept some pretty distinguished company.

Of course, nowadays all Hollywood really cares about are franchises. But even here Cruise has outsmarted his former cohorts. A few stars of his generation tried dabbling in the genre, like Cruise’s “Top Gun” co-star Val Kilmer (the Iceman gets promoted to Commander of the Pacific Fleet in “Maverick”), who gave the Caped Crusader a go in 1995’s “Batman Forever.” But Kilmer never quite filled the cowl. He was one-and-done with the DC Comics role. Ditto George Clooney with 1997’s “Batman & Robin.” Both actors, huge stars at the time, got chewed up and spat out by a pop culture icon that turned out to be even bigger than they were.

Cruise, though, came up with a clever workaround. He found a pop culture artifact much smaller than himself — a dusty old spy TV show from the 1960s— and turned it into his own $3.5 billion, six-film franchise (soon to be a seven- and eight-film franchise, with two more “Mission: Impossible” sequels, filmed back-to-back, coming out in 2023 and 2024). And — here’s the really savvy part — he made sure to make himself as indispensable to the series as its rubber masks and zippy theme music. 

There was talk back in the mid-2000s, around the time Cruise was hopping all over Oprah’s furniture, that Paramount was considering dumping him from “Mission: Impossible” and recasting his part. But it was never going to happen. Unlike the James Bond franchise (now searching for its seventh actor) or the Spider-Man films (three actors, occasionally all in the same movie) or the Batman movies (Robert Pattinson makes six, not including Adam West’s 1966 big screen turn), it’s all but impossible to imagine anybody but Cruise playing Ethan Hunt. Or at least it’s hard to imagine anybody else playing him and the film still opening at $100 million.

Of course, even Cruise has his limitations. After “M.I.” took off, he attempted to kick-start another action franchise. But his Jack Reacher series ran out of gas pretty quickly. Cruise only did two films, in 2012 and 2016, before turning over the ex-Army cop character to some gorilla named Alan Ritchson for an Amazon Prime show. Still, big whoop. Carrying one super-successful franchise through 26 years (and counting) is impressive enough, especially for a guy this close to retirement age.

Which raises the obvious question — how long can he keep this up? The answer is, probably quite a while. Harrison Ford, who’s been pretty indispensable to the Indiana Jones series — almost as indispensable as Spielberg — is nearly 80 and still cracking a whip, with a fifth Indy sequel arriving in theaters next year. One can easily imagine Cruise doing cliff jumps in souped-up mobility chairs well into his own 80s.

The more interesting question, though, is whether it’s possible for young actors today to replicate what Cruise has accomplished with his career. Will any of the under-40 stars working in 2022 — Timothée Chalamet or Michael B. Jordan or Taron Egerton — still even be famous 36 years from now, let alone at the top of their game?

It’s hard to imagine. But if they survive to 2058, they’ll likely be sharing the screen with a 95-year-old jet-flying speed freak with perfect abs and a 500-watt grin.

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Tom Cruise: The Last Movie Star

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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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Tom Cruise: the last movie star

• 28 June 2022, 9:13am

Alexander Larman

The actor Tom Cruise has recently released a new film, his first in four years thanks to Covid-induced release delays. You may have heard of it, a low-budget arthouse picture called Top Gun: Maverick .

Ecstatic critics have fallen over themselves to praise Maverick not merely as superior to the original Top Gun (a mere 36 years old now) but as one of the greatest action films ever made. It currently has a hugely impressive 97 per cent ‘Fresh’ score on the reviews aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Coincidentally, that’s the same score that Cruise’s previous film, Mission Impossible: Fallout , received there, too. It is proving an enormous box office hit. And the perma-smiling Cruise has done everything that he can to promote it, short of going into space – where he is heading for his next film, apparently.

I sometimes wonder what Scott Fitzgerald would have made of Tom Cruise. At a time when the idea of the actor-as-draw has disappeared from contemporary cinema, the weirdly ageless man remains the last remaining movie star working today. Cruise has dealt with the changing vagaries of the industry through both phenomenal hard work and, on another level, simply ignoring them. He has his own franchise, the Mission Impossible series, and except for an appearance in The Mummy , one of his rare out-and-out flops that’s best forgotten, he does not appear in others.

Long may Tom Cruise’s insane, generous individualism last

He has worked with virtually all the leading (male) directors of the past half-century, but now collaborates mainly with the writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who has a credit on virtually every project he takes on. His private life is consistently speculated on, and his public utterances on his religion, Scientology, have attracted as many column inches as his films. He remains both uniquely accessible – insisting on meeting fans for hours at premieres – and entirely opaque. He once jumped on a couch, torpedoing his career for nearly a decade. I cannot remember ever reading an interview with him that offers the slightest insight into who he really is. Which, of course, is the point. There is Brand Tom – Cruise Control, if you will – and everything else is subjugated to it.

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It helps that, after a strange and atypically lacklustre run of form between Mission Impossible III in 2006 and Edge of Tomorrow in 2014, Cruise has once again returned to pole position in his commercial instincts. The intriguing but little-seen American Made aside, he has not made a non-blockbuster (or intended blockbuster) since Valkyrie in 2008. The days when he collaborated with the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Stanley Kubrick – Stanley Kubrick! – and Steven Spielberg seem very distant.

One can debate how good an actor he is (I think he’s superb, but a chilly technician rather than a warm, Hanksian everyman) or how unerring his instinct for filmmakers and projects are. But one thing seems clear: we shall not look on his like again.

Movies have changed beyond recognition since he began working four decades again, but Cruise remains one of the few constants, an ever-fixed mark in our multiplexes and streaming services. The former first, naturally: he is an evangelical proponent of the theatrical experience. He made an inordinate deal of attending a public screening of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in 2020, at a time when many were reluctant to do so.

But he is far from reckless. It is telling that, when he flew into an expletive-laden rant at two crew members who had not been observing Covid protocols on a Mission: Impossible set, most observers took his side. When he announced that ‘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. …Movies are going because of us. If we shut down it’s going to cost people fucking jobs, their home, their family,’ he was applauded for his (sweary) commitment to his industry.

We shall probably never know who the ‘real’ Tom Cruise is. And that, I suspect, suits him fine. But we do know that this eccentric, physically daring man remains the last leading man who is happy to give his all in the service of entertaining his audience – and we are, of course, his audience. At a time of bland, identikit actors, this dedication is something to applaud. For once, the Top Gun sequel has the right title; its star really is a maverick. Long may his insane, generous individualism last.

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How Tom Cruise Became Hollywood’s Last Great Movie Star

The world premiere of Top Gun: Maverick was a typically lavish affair. But the biggest moment of the evening was reserved for the arrival of its leading man. Rather than arrive via limo, Tom Cruise entered the party in a helicopter , the kind of bombastic declaration of one’s presence that befits only the most famous and iconic of stars.

Top Gun: Maverick is an increasing rarity in the oversaturated market of Hollywood blockbusters: a practical stunts-driven star vehicle that, while a sequel to a notable IP, is defined almost entirely by its leading man. Actors don’t tend to get above-the-title credits with MCU movies or other such franchises but Cruise’s name is right there. Cruise’s films have grossed over $10.1 billion worldwide. He’s been Oscar-nominated three times and worked with the likes of Oliver Stone, Stanley Kubrick, and Michael Mann. At the age of 59, he is still headlining massively costly blockbusters, keeping critics and audiences on his side, and maintaining his A-List power. He’s almost invincible, the last movie star standing in a changing Hollywood.

True megastars get to do things that nobody else can. They earn more money, they demand major rewrites, and they can bend even the most inflexible of industry stalwarts to their will. That level of power demands consistency and results. And while Cruise has bounced between more serious dramas and blockbusters for the majority of his career, there is also a specific formula that he often follows, as laid out by Roger Ebert in his review of 1990’s Days of Thunder.

This checklist of nine requirements reveals the template that has strengthened Cruise’s stardom in the years since: stories of “rambunctious” scamps with undeniable talent who come up against unexpected obstacles, get the girl, learn from their mentor, and prove their mettle in the face of doom. While not every film he’s made fits into this structure, it’s remarkable how many of them do over the course of 35+ years. Cruise gets older but he’s retained that go-getter energy and thrall that fits so well into stories of heroes going up against the rest of the world. It’s not a formula he’s had to change all that much, even as fellow megastars find themselves struggling with new demands and their old ways losing popularity with audiences.

The jewel in the crown for Cruise remains the Mission: Impossible franchise . This is his domain, the platform from which he can be the unbeatable idol of blockbusters worldwide. What started out as a big-budget remake of a ‘60s TV show evolved into a singularly Cruise-ian endeavor. The first film quickly eschewed the tenets of the source material (much to the chagrin of some fans) to fully center Cruise in every way. New cast members and creatives would come and go across the franchise, but Cruise remained front and center. The Mission: Impossible franchise allowed Cruise to be the kind of movie star that simply doesn’t exist anymore. Always keen to perform his own stunts (the fish tank scene in the first film happened at his insistence, with no stunt man in his place), each movie brought progressively bigger and more dangerous set-pieces that allowed Cruise to be a real-life action man.

Stunts are dangerous, costly, and dependent on years of training and planning. There’s a reason that you don’t see any of the Marvel stars flinging themselves off of skyscrapers. Robert Pattinson doesn’t get to fly from rooftops with his Batsuit. Nowadays, stunt workers are more in-demand than ever for such work and the advancement of hyper-realistic CGI has helped to make such things safer than ever. Yet Cruise does it all himself. He jumps across buildings, shattering his ankle in the process. He does motorcycle chases without a helmet. He clings to the side of planes as they take off. He sat atop the tallest building in the world for a casual selfie. And this doesn’t even include the stunts he’s done in other movies. There are plots in these movies but, let’s be honest, people love the Mission: Impossible franchise because it’s evolved into a ceaseless spectacle of A-List stunt madness, with one of the most famous people on the planet doing the kind of things that, once again, you can only do if you’re mega-rich and powerful and no one wants to tell you no. There’s a realness to seeing an actual movie star literally skydive for our personal entertainment. Not since Jackie Chan have we had this kind of starry thrill.

It’s the Mission: Impossible franchise that has allowed Cruise to stay on top. He makes a lot of interesting non-franchise blockbusters such as Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow , both of which are great and are a reminder of how star power can get such films made. Yet it’s hard to ignore the way that his biggest project has bolstered his career during some slippery periods. In the mid-2000s, Cruise’s image took a beating thanks to some questionable interviews, his louder-than-ever support for the Church of Scientology, and the parody-ready public romance that was his marriage to Katie Holmes. Cruise hadn’t been defined in Hollywood as an everyman for a long time but this era saw him become a joke, a “weirdo,” the kind of guy that his audiences felt put off by. To many, this might be an endgame moment. But Cruise found a way around it.

If you can’t be relatable or accept a shift toward playing regular old guys, then the next logical step is to be the opposite of that. What better way to solidify your place as an all-powerful and untouchable superstar of epic proportions than by doing the kinds of things in movies that nobody else can, will, or should? The last three Mission: Impossible films have helped Cruise in this effort, propelling him past those past controversies. It’s not that they aren’t there anymore, people are just distracted by the spectacle of what he’s doing on screen.

Cruise might be making physically dangerous movies but, despite his unique position (or maybe with its preservation in mind), he’s not exactly a creative risk-taker with his projects. This isn’t an actor who’s using his clout to get hubristic vanity projects made. There’s no Hudson Hawk or Heaven’s Gate in his filmography. The past 15 years or so of work have seen Cruise almost entirely eschew darker roles and the kinds of auteur-driven narratives he once felt so comfortable in. There’s nothing as nervy as Magnolia or even Interview with the Vampire in his 2010s filmography, although one could make the case that his turn as a faded rockstar in the musical Rock of Ages comes somewhat close. He doesn’t remold himself to fit new projects anymore. Rather, the movies must bend to his brand, and sometimes that leads to a clunky failure like The Mummy , a remake of a quiet horror classic that became a set-piece laden tentpole piece to match Cruise’s stunt-focused heroism in the Mission Impossible series.

Cruise’s preference to avoid those kinds of risks does feel like a loss in many ways. He could be a nervy actor, one with a ferocity and mischief that made him as good a fit for Born in the Fourth of July as it did for Jerry Maguire . He, the classic good guy, made for an impeccable villain too, as seen in Michael Mann’s Collateral , a noir-inspired drama that allowed him to use that old-school handsome demeanor for something far more chilling. Brad Pitt still works with filmmakers of ambition and curiosity. Will Smith just won an Oscar. It’s hard to imagine Cruise taking similar paths in the future.

He seems to have given up on being that kind of actor. Indeed, he’s less an actor now than a star, and that seems to be how he – and maybe the public – prefer it. We’ve been led to believe he is something more than mortal, defying perceived physical and mental limitations and the cruelty of time for a long time while continuing to be the dictionary definition of a movie star while others fade or flee from the weight of that role. For Cruise, the question may well be, why try to be anything less than that image if you don’t have to?

Den of Geek

Tom Cruise: The Last Movie Star Who Gets Better with Age

Tom Cruise returns to the skies for Top Gun: Maverick, but his movie star persona has never touched the ground since 1986. In fact, it’s flying higher than ever.

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It’s not exactly subtle. Appearing in even the first teaser of Top Gun: Maverick —released an astonishing three years ago!— Tom Cruise ’s fighter pilot is getting an epic dressing down from the boss. His superior, Radam. Chester “the Hammer” Cain (Ed Harris), is sick and tired of Maverick’s hot shot ways and insubordination. And he’s here to put the younger man in his place. It’s a scene we’ve witnessed many times, including to iconic effect in the original Top Gun from 1986, and yet the Hammer’s critique of his fiftysomething naval officer is sharper here. More pointed. He is getting at something existential about the trajectory of a man’s life.

“You can’t get a promotion,” Harris’ rear admiral sneers, “you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a two-star admiral by now… or a senator. Yet here you are, captain . Why is that?” We then cut to Cruise’s slightly more weathered yet remarkably still boyish face, and he simply teases the outline of a familiar smirk.

The sequence, which comes early in the finished Top Gun: Maverick , is obviously meant to clue us into what its title character has been up to for the past 36 years. But it also works as an admission that Maverick and Cruise’s biographies are entwined. Despite the actor once being weary of doing a Top Gun sequel, and dismissing the idea out of hand in a 1990 Playboy interview, Cruise is back in one of his most beloved roles and doing what he’s always done best: fly really fast planes, drive really fast motorcycles, and look quite cool while doing both.

In many respects, this makes Maverick a rarity: a character study on the life of a movie star who for four decades has operated at the very height of American pop culture and entertainment, and who instead of choosing the path that so many other gifted stars of yesteryear—graduating to the rank of esteemed character actor and a cinematic statesman, becoming a Paul Newman or Robert Redford, who were no strangers to playing senators—he remained the guy in the cockpit, doing it better than anyone his junior. In fact, he’s doing it better than when he was in his junior years.

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In this way, it’s interesting that his superiors in Maverick include Harris. The older actor is only 12 years Cruise’s senior and once played globally renowned fighter pilot John Glenn in The Right Stuff (1983). As the years passed, Glenn became a real-life senator, and Harris is now playing an admiral. Similarly, in Cruise’s signature action movie franchise, Mission: Impossible , the star is often reprimanded by IMF Director Alan Hunley, a character played by Alec Baldwin. Also like Cruise, Baldwin came up in the 1980s and starred in his own classic spy thriller, The Hunt for Red October (1990).

Harris and Baldwin both were “promoted” to the role of the proverbial senator. But Cruise? He’s the last and perhaps only living proof that movie star charisma can endure. It can even get better with age.

Once a Different Type of Movie Star

Before Top Gun was released in 1986, the idea of Tom Cruise as the grinning action star did not exist. After Top Gun , Cruise still at least somewhat resisted being placed only in that box. To be sure, he’d already achieved a certain level celebrity before then by appearing in 1983’s surprise hit Risky Business . But while largely remembered today for the innocuous image of Cruise playing a teenager eager to dance to Bob Seger in his underwear, that picture actually remains a moody and surreal thriller about a young kid who is out of his depth when he’s seduced by a call girl into turning the family home into a brothel.

It brought Cruise attention, but it didn’t make him a household name, nor did the similar romantic teen dramas (and one bizarre Ridley Scott fantasy) he made immediately afterward. Top Gun was the inflection point; the picture where Cruise starred in the highest concept Jerry Bruckeheimer and Don Simpson’s hard-partying offices ever came up with in the ‘80s. This blend of fighter jets, postcard sunsets, and well-tanned male bodies went on to become the biggest movie of 1986 too, not to mention the greatest recruitment video the Navy ever had.

As a result, Cruise was a brand, and one as reliable as Coca-Cola. When it came to the biggest hits of his early career— Top Gun , Cocktail (1988), Days of Thunder (1990)—they all followed a pretty familiar formula as outlined by standup comic Rich Hall . Whether he was a fighter pilot or a yuppie mixologist, he was still the same hotshot who needed to be slightly humbled (but never defeated) by the love of a good woman.

Cruise and his agents obviously agreed to all these lucrative box office hits, but even in those heady Reagan years, there was an initial apprehension by Cruise and his team to let the biggest movie star in the world become only that. As a young man, he made a point to star in those guaranteed moneymakers, as well as passion projects by auteurs. He was Paul Newman’s protégé in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Color of Money (1986), and after Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War reverie, Platoon (1986), won Best Picture, Cruise fought to star in Stone’s next film about that nightmare, Born on the Fourth of July (1989). His unexpected casting as Vietnam vet Ron Kovic, who returned from Southeast Asia paralyzed and as an anti-war activist, still remains the best performance in Cruise’s career.

As Cruise’s star status reached its zenith in the 1990s, he continued to try to be both the brand—hence the first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996—and the leading actor who chased auteurs. Stanley Kubrick; Rob Reiner; Neil Jordan; Paul Thomas Anderson; Michael Mann; Cameron Crowe; Steven Spielberg. He worked with all of them in the most prolific period of his career, sometimes in movies that were intended to be blockbusters, such as the sci-fi one-two punch of Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005) with Spielberg, or the seminal military courtroom drama A Few Good Men (1992) with Reiner. But, generally speaking, he allowed his star status to get weirdly ambitious projects greenlit and marketed like blockbusters due to his participation.

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And, frankly, even the interesting failures in that category—like Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Kubrick’s arguably unfinished final film that was released after his sudden death and which starred Cruise and Nicole Kidman at the end of their marriage—are more captivating than a lot of the well-oiled star vehicles he was doing concurrently, such as the only bad Mission: Impossible movie, M:I-2 from 2000.

Yet all careers ebb and flow, and the natural order of thing for stars, no matter how bright, is to fade—infamously so in Cruise’s case after his personal life came under heavy scrutiny due to his outspoken (and presumptuous) views about psychotropic medication, his very public courtship of his third wife Katie Holmes (who was 16 years younger), and his general participation in the Church of Scientology.

One year after Cruise gained national derision for jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, Mission: Impossible III (2006) underperformed at the box office, and Paramount made no bones about blaming the actor’s off-screen perception. For a time, the studio even seemed ready to terminate Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character.

This was the point an aging movie star would be expected to recline from that status, accept things will never be as they once were, and take on more character roles like Lions for Lambs (2007), the Robert Redford movie in which Cruise played a senator in a supporting role.

The maverick actor, however, would go on to choose a different path.

A Star Is Reborn

There was a time when Paramount Pictures was entirely done with Cruise as the lead of the Mission: Impossible franchise. After the J.J. Abrams-directed M:I-3 earned substantially less than its predecessor from six years earlier, then-Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone told The Wall Street Journal (via Screen Crush ), “We don’t think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot.” Redstone had Paramount terminate their production deal with Cruise and shutter his office behind the studio’s famous gate. They quite literally pushed the biggest star in the world, who led numerous summer blockbusters for the studio, off the lot.

Typically an event such as this marks the tombstone in a Hollywood lead’s status. It’s the moment where they (and their agent) realize celebrity has waned and it is time for reinvention. But Cruise’s idea of reinvention was not to do a lot more movies like Lions for Lambs ; it ultimately became to do what he had done before… but far better than anyone ever imagined was possible.

Admittedly, the moment of grace and public rehabilitation came from a smaller supporting role, in-keeping with that time he might’ve played a narcissistic motivational speaker in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999), except in Tropic Thunder (2008), Cruise’s ability to completely over-commit to a seedy character role was dialed up to 11 in a mainstream comedy where he personified what has long been speculated to be a parody of then-Hollywood power player Scott Rudin (whom Cruise worked with on 1993’s The Firm ). Under pounds of prosthetics and makeup, Cruise looked unrecognizable as Les Grossman, a fictional late 2000s-studio mogul as repugnant as his pun-y name might suggest… and just as entertaining.

The public enthusiasm over Cruise’s Grossman dancing to hip-hop during Tropic Thunder ’s end credits may have been the last of two footholds Cruise had to salvage his stardust. The other was a continued friendship with Abrams, who despite helming the only Mission: Impossible movie to take a bath at the box office came out of the experience smelling like roses to the studio. He even became a golden boy when he reinvented Paramount’s Star Trek franchise in 2009 with the movie that turned it seemingly into a long-running action saga in the Star Wars mold.

It was the success of Tropic Thunder , and Abrams’ wingman-ing, that caused the studio to agree to let Cruise return for M:I-4 … if Cruise also agreed they could cast a new leading man who would be set up to take over the franchise in the following film(s).

If you go back and study the marketing material for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), it’s now amusing how hard Paramount pushed Jeremy Renner as franchise newcomer William Brandt. On the poster, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is intentionally made to look older and weathered for the first time, adorning a hoodie to hide Cruise’s famous black mane of hair. Meanwhile, over his shoulder, stands a crisp and bespoke Renner: a fresh face at the literal right hand. Similarly, almost every trailer concluded with the moment Cruise’s Ethan Hunt pulls a gun on Brandt, and Renner’s new protagonist is able to disarm him and hold Cruise at gunpoint instead. A supposed heir apparent has emerged, or so went the implication. And this one is an Avenger .

Yet something that Paramount’s top brass perhaps did not expect was also emerging in the fourth Mission: Impossible : a middle-aged and chastened Cruise deciding that, with his star status diminished, he’d re-commit to the type of big screen spectacle that made him a household name in the first place. He’d obviously been that guy ever since audiences first got a glimpse of Maverick zooming across a military runway on a motorcycle at sunset in Top Gun . But back then, the motorcycle might’ve been real, and the naval jets definitely were, but Cruise was (almost never) flying in them.

Yet alongside Incredibles director Brad Bird, the middle-aged star now engineered some of the most spectacular stunts ever put to screen in Ghost Protocol , and he did them all. When you see Ethan Hunt pull a proverbial Spider-Man and wallcrawl—and run, and skip—alongside the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, that’s really him doing it. Tobey Maguire used CGI, but Cruise is hanging from a rope as he dangles around a manmade colossus.

Similarly, as an actor previously publicized for doing his own stunts, Cruise used this pivot point in his career to better highlight that fact in long, wide, and dazzling shots that bucked the modern trend of relying on rapid editing. Bird let audiences savor that Cruise is the guy up there. And by the time the actor found his collaborative soulmates in stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood and director Christopher McQuarrie on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), the whole marketing likewise shifted toward that aspect. Entire posters for M:I-5 were nothing more than photographic evidence that Cruise was the one actor seemingly crazy enough to hang from the side of a plane that’s taking off. Meanwhile Renner’s Brandt was reduced to a true supporting role in that one before not appearing at all in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout .

Top Gun: Maverick Review – Tom Cruise Sticks Landing

The First Mission: Impossible Still Has One of the Greatest Action Set Pieces

The last american movie star.

So, yes, Cruise was able to wrestle control back over the Mission: Impossible movies and genuinely make them better than ever, with each of the last three installments surpassing what came before. But more than that, when given the choice of “retirement” or “promotion,” Cruise like Maverick defied the odds and stayed in the cockpit, achieving feats never before seen in his field despite his advancing age.

The context of this in the larger industry is striking. With the infamous exception of 2017’s The Mummy reboot , the 2010s saw an older Cruise retain a commitment to what is obviously traditional blockbuster storytelling. But it is also incredibly well-crafted, intelligent storytelling executed at the peak of Hollywood resources.

Ever since reclaiming Mission: Impossible and his status, the actor has eschewed the auteur projects he coveted in his youth, but the blockbusters he’s doubled down on have improved: Jack Reacher (2012), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), American Made (2017), the three aforementioned M:I movies, and now Top Gun: Maverick are all exceedingly well-made spectacles in which filmmaking craft is at the highest bleeding edge. The emphasis on sharp writing, much of it done by Oscar-winner McQuarrie, is arguably even higher too, which is why McQuarrie became the first director to helm more than one Mission: Impossible movie, and seems poised to draw a curtain on the franchise with the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning two-parter that continues his novel innovation of actually developing Ethan Hunt into a character instead of an archetype.

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In a vacuum, this is impressive. But in contrast with the rest of the industry that is chasing interconnected shared universes in the Marvel Studios vein, and a style that values spectacle generated in a computer (and storytelling that appears to be going in an endless circle), it feels like a life raft. Sometimes the old ways are the best. And while it’s nice that movie stardom is more prolific than ever before with a greater diversity of voices and faces in front of the screen, the entire next generation of “stars” seem obligated to make a Faustian bargain where their success hangs on their likenesses being encased in the plastic uniform of a comic book character.

Conversely, and against all odds, Cruise has maintained his own name as the true brand. Mission: Impossible is technically based on an intellectual property, but you’d be crazier than Hunt if you think its fandom comes from adulation of a 1960s TV show. It’s Cruise’s insistence on maintaining the quality of the writing, the acting, and the stunts which has kept people coming back. Consider that despite the fact he’s pushing 60, Cruise is beloved more than any Hollywood leading man since the days of Douglas Fairbanks for his daredevil antics. It was even while mimicking one of Fairbanks’ between-rooftops leaps in Fallout that Cruise broke an ankle. Nonetheless, they kept filming (the take with his injury is in the finished film) and ultimately incorporated his limp into the movie’s finale.

That style of movie stardom feels like a revenant from the past in the 21st century. That style of stardom felt like a revenant in the late 20th century when Cruise was in his heyday and not actually flying any planes in Top Gun . And yet, as Jennifer Connelly recently attested to us, that’s really him piloting her in a single engine plane in Top Gun: Maverick .

In 2020, Cruise’s intensity came under scrutiny again during the filming of the first forthcoming Dead Reckoning movie. Shooting during the early days of the pandemic—and at a period before there was a vaccine—he apparently was enraged when he saw crew members not practicing social distancing or properly wearing their masks.

“We want the gold standard,” Cruise bellowed. “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 [as the example for how] to make their movies.”

Overly harsh? Maybe. Indicative of an inflated hero complex? Most probably. But proof of an ironclad dedication to the art and commerce of moviemaking in the old school Hollywood sense? Absolutely.

Once, in a different era, Cruise starred opposite another movie star who was at a transition point in his career, Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men . In that movie’s classic finale, which was penned by a young Aaron Sorkin, Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee attempts to get Nicholson’s Col. Nathan R. Jessep to confess culpability in a crime. It’s most famous now for Cruise finally shouting, “I want the truth,” and Nicolson screaming in response, “You can’t handle the truth!”

Yet there’s another gem of a line in this sequence where Nicholson, justifying his hardline tactics, explains, “We live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded… you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.”

For about 40 years, Cruise has stood on a wall of his own, and he may very well be the last man up there in 2022. One day, as Harris’ rear admiral suggests in Top Gun 2 , he will have to retire and come on down. Moviegoers will be the poorer for it. But not today. Today, the wall looks taller than ever.

David Crow | @DCrowsNest

David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

Will Tom Cruise Be the Last Real Movie Star?

Maybe it's weird that the 59-year-old 'Top Gun: Maverick' actor is still on top, but he undoubtedly is

I watched Top Gun again the other day for the first time since it came out. What struck me was not so much the homoeroticism, based on the locker-room rapport between unclothed alpha males (“I’ve got a hard-on.” “Don’t tease me”), famously satirised by Quentin Tarantino in a monologue in the 1994 film Sleep With Me . Actually, it was the beach volleyball scene in which Maverick (Cruise) and Goose (Anthony Edwards) are winning handsomely and, every time they get a point, Cruise gives Edwards two resounding high-fives, up high and down low, with smacks that must have reverberated up the western seaboard like sonic booms. My own palms were flinching and tingling at the sheer machismo. Poor Edwards must have been in agony.

Tom Cruise is the last Hollywood icon standing, the last real movie star. In an age of franchises, intellectual property and superheroes, Cruise is the defiant survivor of a time when the currency was the superstars themselves, with their unchanging personalities and their professional duty to keep young and beautiful. Despite all the affection I have for the great man, he is a living embodiment of the theory that true stars don’t have something extra; they have, in fact, something missing, some weird gap or void into which the audience projects its desire.

From his early manhood in the 1980s, Tom Cruise could “open” a movie: he was an “above-the-title” star, that quaint phrase coming from an age of titles being spelt out on marquees. Most actors of Cruise’s age will have long since accepted their character roles as fathers or grandfathers. They will have taken mature “bearded” parts, like 44-year-old George Clooney in Syriana or 57-year-old Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips . Not Tom.

Actually, it’s not quite true to say that Tom Cruise doesn’t do beards. He grew a wild and straggly beard for Born on the Fourth of July , when he played the radically anti-war Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic; and he grew a neat, tailored beard, indicating wisdom and inner strength, for The Last Samurai , portraying a US cavalry officer in 19th-century Japan. But these were not ageing-process beards or silver-fox beards. And he has — for good-sport laughs — pretended to be fat and bald as a movie producer rocking out in triumph in the comedy Tropic Thunder . But, in each case, the point is that the fiercely attractive pretty-boy Cruise is obviously there underneath.

.css-f6drgc:before{margin:-0.99rem auto 0 -1.33rem;left:50%;width:2.1875rem;border:0.3125rem solid #FF3A30;height:2.1875rem;content:'';display:block;position:absolute;border-radius:100%;} .css-1aglugu{font-family:Lausanne,Lausanne-fallback,Lausanne-roboto,Lausanne-local,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:1.625rem;line-height:1.2;margin:0rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1aglugu{font-size:1.75rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1aglugu{font-size:2.375rem;line-height:1.2;}}.css-1aglugu b,.css-1aglugu strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-1aglugu em,.css-1aglugu i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;}.css-1aglugu:before{content:'＂';display:block;padding:0.3125rem 0.875rem 0 0;font-size:3.5rem;line-height:0.8;font-style:italic;font-family:Lausanne,Lausanne-fallback,Lausanne-styleitalic-roboto,Lausanne-styleitalic-local,Arial,sans-serif;} There is something eerie in the way he has been box-office gold for over four decades

He has worked with the biggest directors in the business: for Steven Spielberg as the star of War of the Worlds , for Paul Thomas Anderson, playing the chillingly misogynistic seduction coach in Magnolia , and for Stanley Kubrick in Eyes Wide Shut , painfully exploring a marital crisis opposite his then-wife Nicole Kidman.

But he was always Tom Cruise, and there is something eerie in the way he has been box-office gold for over four decades. In the US domestic-revenue charts for 1985, newcomer Tom Cruise came in at number 15 (number one was Chevy Chase). In 1987, he slipped to 18 (the highest position that year was held by Steve Guttenberg, of the Police Academy movies) but took the top spot in 1988, knocking Guttenberg down to three. He came third in 1990 when Tom Hanks was in first place, and won bronze in 1994 when Wesley Snipes took gold. In 2005, Keanu Reeves was victorious, while Cruise hung in there at 12. The man has seen them come and go — Guttenberg, Chase, Jim Carrey, Bradley Cooper — but he has kept up with or outlasted them all.

The Cruise persists. And his co-stars from Top Gun , Edwards, Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan, might now look older or different in the way that would be expected of normal human beings. But Tom is like a human action figure, and this is very largely because, 20 years ago, he shrewdly positioned himself as the star of what became an action franchise: the Mission: Impossible movies. Playing top agent Ethan Hunt, he takes on risky missions against shadowy bad guys, rides motorbikes, scales buildings, wears luxury watches, is lowered on wires into secure bank vaults to tap security codes into laptops, and free-climbs dangerous rocky outcrops. Cruise’s late-career genius was to identify that, if franchises were the way Hollywood was going, then he would control and be the franchise, the key constituent element. MI has become loved — and Cruise has become almost an honorary national treasure in the UK, for the way he has committed to using British production facilities.

In December 2020, The Sun released a leaked audio tape of Cruise haranguing crew members on Mission: Impossible 7 for breaking Covid rules. He yelled: “If I see you do it again, you’re fucking GONE!” With anyone else, the optics of that would have been too awful. It could have been a cancellation moment: a rich Hollywood bully humiliating British workers? But, actually, there was sympathy for him. Everyone I spoke to shrugged and said he was under a lot of pressure. And Covid rules were important.

Tom Cruise has grown on us all. I loved him in Magnolia , with his detestation of the journalist who presumes to question him about his family background. I loved him in Michael Mann’s thriller Collateral , where he played the (daringly) grey-haired killer being ferried around in the back of Jamie Foxx’s cab. I can never see this film without thinking of Cruise’s remarkable claim that, as a penniless wannabe actor in Manhattan in the early 1980s, he would persuade prostitutes to give him rides back through the Lincoln Tunnel to his family home in New Jersey. Which is to say — he would have had to persuade the prostitutes’ clients, because they were the ones with the cars. I can imagine young Cruise riding in the back, with the sex worker and driver upfront, these people having been cowed by the sheer force of his urgent, insecure personality: switching between the dazzling smile and the fierce look of determination: the monobrow, the jutting chin.

His life story is rather compelling: the father who abused the family. The mother who quietly woke Tom and his sisters at 4:30 in the morning when they were living in Ottawa, so that they could escape the violent pater familias and get over the border to the United States, where her family would effectively support them.

Then there was his hardworking, but fairly mediocre, academic career in high school (where he dreamed of being a pilot), which ended in him taking a role as Nathan Detroit in the school production of Guys and Dolls . A fellow student at the school happened to have a minor TV career, and her agent was in the audience — and he saw Tom’s star potential.

Nathan Detroit! What fascinatingly atypical casting. Not Sky Masterson, the more obviously romantic lead, but Nathan Detroit, the hassled domesticated guy. I would have loved to see Cruise in that singing role. Surely we can revive Guys and Dolls on the London stage and persuade him to do it again?

His Scientology should have turned everyone against him, long ago. But, strangely, it hasn’t

There also is the matter of his controversial attachment to Scientology, to which he was introduced by his first wife, Mimi Rogers, in which he then, allegedly, tried (and failed) to immerse his second wife, Nicole Kidman, and whose adherents and creepy functionaries are said to have made his third wife, Katie Holmes, feel very uncomfortable. This, too, should have turned everyone against him, long ago. But, strangely, it hasn’t. Partly, that is to do with it being a controversy of such long standing, predating social media by decades. Partly it is down to a secular-atheist view that Scientology is no sillier than any other faith, or that Cruise’s attachment is a quaint eccentricity, like being a Mason. But it is also something else — people now know that, as a young and naive neophyte in the religion, Cruise submitted to intimate tape-recorded “auditing” sessions and, perhaps eager to demonstrate his humility and self-criticism, he may have admitted to various thoughts and feelings disapproved of both by Scientologists and his future red-blooded male fanbase in Reagan’s America. Could it be that Scientologists and their peculiar leader, David Miscavige, have had a hold on their most famous recruit? Could it be that Tom Cruise’s intense, charismatically coiled and clenched address to the camera is a 40-year hostage video?

I wonder. At any rate, when Top Gun: Maverick comes out on Friday, I shall be first in line to see the great man take to the skies once again and to marvel at his career-long defiance of gravity.

'Top Gun: Maverick' is out in cinemas on 27 May; read Esquire's review here

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Why Tom Cruise Is the Last True Hollywood Movie Star: 4 Reasons

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Tom Cruise feels like a man who belongs on the big screen. Million of people queue up for his movies, and his movies are the kind that showcase the best of an actor's dedication to his craft.

Ever since his breakout role in Risky Business , Tom Cruise has topped the A-list and never surrendered his position. He tries his absolute hardest at all times to deliver films that make cinema audiences sit tight and grip the edges of their seats in excitement.

Is he the most talented actor? No. Does he innovate and expand the limits of acting skill? Also no. But the one thing he does is push himself past his own limits, and always for the benefit of his audiences.

Over the course of his acting career, Tom Cruise has become known for the quality of his output, often in the most unexpected ways. Here's why we look to Tom Cruise as the last of a dying generation of cinema icons.

1. The Tom Cruise Brand

As far as acting range and reach, Tom Cruise's most difficult roles came earlier in his career. These days, he takes on less-challenging roles that don't demand much acting reach, but he also makes a clear effort to elevate the entire scope of whatever he's making to new heights.

In Top Gun: Maverick —a film that, at first, sounded so out of touch with modern cinema that it confused many industry experts as to why it was being produced in the first place—Tom Cruise best showcased the brand that his name has become in cinema.

He's the actor who plays roles that all feel broadly similar: Ethan Hunt, Jack Reacher, Maverick. They're all characters who have become extensions of Tom Cruise as a whole. But, in doing that, Cruise has created his brand and he does it so well that he's beloved for it.

Tom Cruise proved his talents many years ago in movies like Magnolia and Born on the Fourth of July , but to become so successful by playing similar characters and making audiences connect with you? That's a trait of actors long-passed, the likes of Bogart and Cagney.

2. The Blockbuster Specialty

Not only does Tom Cruise specialize in blockbuster Hollywood movies, he's restricted his working circle to those who allow him a great deal of control over his films. In doing that, he can offer what he does best without being hindered by others butting in.

This might be a system that fuels self-grandeur, but it has certainly allowed Cruise to be the actor he most wants to be.

For many, this would be the kind of move that sinks careers. For Cruise, it only highlights his efforts to ensure audiences see things they haven't seen before, and so viewers appreciate his dedication and craft.

Everybody knows how Tom Cruise puts more effort into making his films than 99% of Hollywood actors. He's the Daniel Day-Lewis of action reality on the screen, and that's why he has had such longevity. Tom Cruise doesn't merely appear in movies; his imprint is there for all to see.

3. He Doesn't Go With the Flow

As of this writing, Tom Cruise is slated to appear in a Marvel movie. But the fun thing about Cruise is that he doesn't really need the MCU to boost his stardom. If anything, his appearance will only further legitimize the blockbuster nature of the film series.

Tom Cruise is the man who has spent decades proving he knows better than anybody what it takes to give audiences a true experience in the theater. So, his role will come in a Marvel movie , not a series .

Whether or not he appears as Superior Iron Man—and we all hope he does—Tom Cruise has never gone with the flow. He always takes the road less traveled, the road that a true independent would take.

He knows his appearance in Marvel will be loved by fans, and sure, he's giving them what they want to some degree. But Cruise is who he is because he's constantly pushed to do his own thing on the big screen.

He isn't a person who uses blockbuster movies in popular franchises to boost his own career; he comes in and turns movies into blockbusters with his talents. He represents a dying breed of Hollywood actor: the hero who puts it all on the line to get the shot.

4. His Films Are Uniquely Entertaining

In the end, Tom Cruise's films rarely disappoint because he always fundamentally understands why he's making any given project.

He's a veteran who continually shocks audiences with his skill and his knowledge of what modern audiences want in films—sometimes by showing it to them before they even realize it's what they wanted.

He's a movie star with a style and motives that are quickly recognizable. We all know when we're watching a Tom Cruise movie, and that's a feeling very few other Hollywood stars can replicate.

All of it comes together to grant Tom Cruise a seat next to those historic actors who are still remembered to this day as icons. Only a handful of people in Hollywood history have been able to be so resonant with nothing more than their mere presence on screen.

In a movie industry that went right, Tom Cruise went left. He'll always be loved for being an individual in a land of trend-followers, for being the one who'd rather strap himself to a plane than paint it all in VFX post-production. He always pushes himself, and we adore that.

He's a true Hollywood star in every sense of the word: an icon, a touchstone, a hard-working genius who's truly peerless.

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Is Tom Cruise the last movie star? or: How I learned to stop worrying and support the strikes

“Tom Cruise represents a danger for studios. His success proves that audiences care about actors and stars, even ones that balance on a razor’s edge of controversy.”

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Tom Cruise saved Hollywood, read headlines from earlier this year. Steven Spielberg made the announcement at the Academy Awards luncheon. In an Instagram video shared online, he said about the Top Gun: Maverick star, “You saved Hollywood’s ass, and you might have saved theatrical distribution.” With the release of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One , Cruise stands to replicate last year’s success and, perhaps, stand alone as the last movie star.

Cruise made his big Hollywood splash 40 years ago with the lead role in Risky Business , just his fourth big-screen role. He’s since been in some of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of the past three decades. He’s done hard-hitting drama, light romance, insidious Illuminati fever dreams, a handful of comedies and, most recently, he has heavily leaned into his role as a death-defying action star. In a world where few actors can draw in an audience, Cruise rarely misses ( The Mummy and Rock of the Ages are notable exceptions). 

Tom Cruise’s star persona is complex. He’s been famous for nearly half a century. He’s had his ups and downs, with large periods of his career overshadowed by his personal life and, particularly, his involvement in the Church of Scientology. After facing backlash over his over-enthusiasm on Oprah’s couch and subsequent fallout from his relationship with Katie Holmes, Cruise has shied away from the spotlight. It’s not that he doesn’t promote his films; he does, but without committing a single opinion to the public record. Much like Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible , he’s a ghost. 

Cruise also represents a danger for studios. It proves that audiences care about actors and stars, even ones that balance on a razor’s edge of controversy. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen a clear trend of major Hollywood studios shifting their attention away from movie stars, attempting to replace them with popular IPs (intellectual properties) and larger-than-life characters. Studios are trying to bank on the idea that people care more about Spider-man or Captain America than the actors who play them. With some bumps along the way, they’ve been moderately successful at shifting the attention towards IPs, hoping the audience doesn’t notice. We’ve even seen them smear actors who attempt to stand up for themselves. Scarlett Johansson, who sued Disney over a breach of contract, was inundated with negative comments. Disney called her lawsuit , a “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Though they eventually settled, the studios showed their hands: they hold actors (and, in fact, most workers) in contempt. 

There’s a long history of Hollywood engaging in similarly nefarious activities against some of its biggest stars. In the 1930s and 40s, actors had little to no control over the material they were given. They could not dictate what types of films or roles they would play. If they refused certain performances, they were suspended. In a world where you’re only as good as your last performances, and audiences are fickle and forgetful, the studios had enormous power. Even though it was star power fuelling most financial successes of the first quarter of the 20th century, the actors had little power over their image and career.

In 1943, at the height of her fame, Olivia De Havilland, best known for her roles in Gone With the Wind and opposite Errol Flynn at the time, wanted to take on meatier roles. Her studio, Warner Brothers, not only refused, they extended her contract, claiming that if she refused scripts and she was issued a suspension, they could extend the contract — keeping her locked in indefinitely. She sued and eventually won, putting the De Havilland Law on the books. The De Havilland Law afforded actors greater freedom to not only choose better roles but also to seek better compensation. It wasn’t long before she’d also win her first Oscar for To Each His Own . 

In the 21st century, the influence of cinema as the dominant popular medium has dwindled, and with it, the power of the movie star. The studios continue to rake in record profits, and executives receive outsized salaries and bonuses. Just yesterday, Bob Iger signed back as CEO of Disney at a salary of $27-million with the possibility of incentive-based bonuses (these incentives boosted his 2021 salary to $45.9-million). 

As SAG declared they’re going on strike to fight for fair compensation and to fight against AI, Bob Iger was quoted as saying the (potential) for a strike is “very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID, which is ongoing; it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.” If Spielberg thinks that Cruise saved Hollywood, it’s clear Iger is trying to position the rest of the actors as its downfall. 

Part of the Studio’s AI proposal to SAG-AFTRA included scanning a background actor’s likeness for one day’s worth of pay and using their likeness forever in any form without any pay or consent. As streaming has already worn away at the option of any residuals, and the majority of SAG doesn’t earn enough to even qualify for health insurance, the proposition reveals an overall desire to not only downplay the autonomy an actor has but also their contribution to the overall project. The studios want us to believe that people and actors are expendable, not because they are, but because they don’t want to share any piece of the pie.

Tom Cruise, in his affable indefinability, will likely not come out strong for the strikes, but his box-office success represents an existential threat to the studios. People didn’t come back to the cinema to watch a new Top Gun movie, a sequel 30 years in the making — they came to the cinema to watch Tom Cruise. As audiences increasingly turn their backs on the subpar Marvel and other superhero movies, the studios are left scrambling, forced to reckon with the reality that the success of Iron Man was not because the IP was great, it’s because people loved Robert Downey Jr.

Cruise is not and should not be above critique, but it’s unquestionable that his success illuminates a core principle of Hollywood moviemaking: stars and actors matter. Most actors will never be Tom Cruise, but like most workers, they’re entitled to fair compensation and protections. What’s unfolding right now in Hollywood might seem like some distant fantasy world, unconnected from the lives of other workers, but it should be an inspiration to all of us. As Fran Drescher, president of SAG, said during the press conference announcing the SAG strike, “What happens here is important because what’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labour, when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority, and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run.” ■

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Tom Cruise: Hollywood’s last real movie star

At a time when superheroes dominate the box office, the film industry hopes tom cruise can bring grown-ups back to theatres..

By Nicole Sperling

The helicopter had the star’s name painted on it, the letters coming into focus as it landed on the retired aircraft carrier, which was adorned for the occasion with an expansive red carpet and a smattering of fighter jets. Tom Cruise . Top Gun. Maverick. It couldn’t have been anyone else.

Decked out in a slim-fitting suit, his hair a little shaggier and his face a little craggier than when he first played Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell more than three decades ago, Mr. Cruise took the stage on the U.S.S. Midway while Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic theme music played in the background.

Gesturing to the spectacle around him, including the crowd of fans and media members, Mr. Cruise said: “This moment right here, to see everybody at this time, no masks. Everyone. This is, this is pretty epic.”

It also felt like a time capsule. The three-hour promotional escapade — which included a batch of F-18 fighter jets executing a flyover to the sound of a Lady Gaga song from the film — harkened back to the halcyon days of Hollywood glamour. Days when Disney didn’t think twice about shuttling an aircraft carrier from San Diego to Hawaii for the premiere of Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor in 2001. Or when the same studio built a 500-seat theater at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the premiere of Armageddon. That kind of extravagance seems almost unthinkable today, when the streaming algorithm and its accompanying digital marketing efforts have replaced the old-fashioned boots-on-the-ground publicity tour with stars circumnavigating the globe, and studios spending millions to turn movie openings into cultural events.

Making these events go were the film’s megastars. In Hollywood, stardom has an elastic definition. There are screen legends who are not box office stars. A global movie star is someone whose name is the draw. They have broad appeal, transcending language, international borders and generational differences. In short, they can get people of all ages into theatres around the world by virtue of their screen personas.

They are the kind of stars — like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone — that box office blockbusters were built around for decades.

And they are the kind of stars who no longer really exist. Actors like Dwayne Johnson, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Ryan Reynolds and Chris Pratt are ultra successful but they are also either closely tied to a specific franchise or superhero film or have yet to prove that multigenerational appeal.

Now, it’s the characters that count. Three actors have portrayed Spider-Man and six have donned the Batman cowl for the big screen. Audiences have shown up for all of them. The Avengers may unite to huge box office returns but how much does it matter who’s wearing the tights?

Yet there is Mr. Cruise, trundling along as if the world hasn’t changed at all. For him, in many ways, it hasn’t. He was 24 when Top Gun made him box office royalty and he has basically stayed there since, outlasting his contemporaries. He’s the last remaining global star who still only makes movies for movie theatres. He hasn’t ventured into streaming. He hasn’t signed up for a limited series. He hasn’t started his own tequila brand.

Instead, his promotional tour for Top Gun: Maverick, which opens on May 27, will last close to three weeks and extend from Mexico City to Japan with a stop in Cannes for the annual film festival. In London, he walked the red carpet with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. (The tour would have been longer and more expansive if Covid protocols didn’t make things so complicated and if he wasn’t in the middle of finishing two “Mission Impossible” movies.)

The actor still commands first dollar gross, which means that in addition to a significant upfront fee, he receives a percentage of the box office gross from the moment the film hits theatres. He is one of the last stars in Hollywood to earn such a sweetheart deal, buoyed by the fact that his 44 films have brought in $4.4 billion at the box office in the United States and Canada alone, according to Box Office Mojo. (Most stars today are paid a salary up front, with bonuses if a film makes certain amounts at the box office.) So if his movies hit, Mr. Cruise makes money. And right now, Hollywood is in dire need of a hit.

Audiences have started creeping back to theatres since the pandemic closed them in 2020. The box office analyst David Gross said that the major Hollywood studios were expected to release roughly 108 films theatrically this year, a 22 percent drop from 2019. Total box office numbers for the year still remain down some 40 percent but the recent performances of The Batman and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have theater owners optimistic that the audience demand is still there. The question is whether the business still works for anything other than special effects-laden superhero movies.

“They just don’t make movies like this anymore,” Brian Robbins, the new chief executive of Paramount Pictures, the studio that financed and produced the $170 million Top Gun: Maverick, said in an interview. “This isn’t a big visual effects movie. Tom really trained these actors to be able to fly and perform in real F-18s. No one’s ever done what they’ve done in this movie practically. Its got scale and scope, and it’s also a really emotional movie. That’s not typically what we see in big tent-pole movies today.”

A big box office showing for Top Gun: Maverick, would depend in no small part on the over-40 crowd. They are the moviegoers who most fondly recall the original Top Gun from 36 years ago — and they are the ones who have been the most reluctant to return to cinemas.

To reinforce his commitment to the industry, Mr. Cruise sent a video message to theater operators at their annual conference in Las Vegas late last month. From the set of Mission Impossible in South Africa, standing atop an airborne biplane, Mr. Cruise introduced new footage from his spy movie and the first public screening of Top Gun: Maverick. “Let’s go have a great summer,” he said, before his director, flying his own biplane next to Mr. Cruise, shouted “action” and the two planes tore off across the sky.

Top Gun: Maverick finished production in 2020 but its release was delayed for two years because of the pandemic. Mr. Cruise declined to comment for this article. But when asked during an interview on the stage of the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday (where eight fighter jets coursed across the skyline, blowing red and blue smoke to match the colors of the French flag) whether there was ever talk of turning the film into a streaming release, Mr. Cruise swatted the idea away. “That was never going to happen,” he said to applause.

Now, theater owners across the country are keeping their fingers crossed that Mr. Cruise’s million-watt smile and his commitment to doing his own stunts — no matter the cost or the fact that he will turn 60 in July — will bring moviegoers back to theatres for what they hope will be a long and fruitful summer.

“There’s been a lot of questions about the older audience and their affinity of going back to the theatrical experience,” Rolando Rodriguez, the chief executive of the Wisconsin-based Marcus Theatres, the fourth-largest theater chain in the country, said in an interview. “Top Gun is certainly going to bring out the audience of 40 and over and momentum builds momentum.”

Audiences have remained loyal to Mr. Cruise through his offscreen controversies — his connection to Scientology, the infamous couch-jumping interview on Oprah, his failed marriages, including to the actress Katie Holmes. And he has remained focused on the process of making movies and then promoting them to as many people as possible — often through very controlled public appearances where he is unlikely to face any uncomfortable questions about his personal life that could embarrass him or turn off moviegoers.

“He eats, sleeps and dreams this job,” said Wyck Godfrey, the former president of production for Paramount. “There is nothing else that takes his attention away. He outworks everyone else. He knows every detail.”

The question now, in the world of streaming and superhero intellectual property, is does it still matter?

Mr. Cruise came of age in Hollywood in the shadow of movie stars like Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. Stallone, where the name above the title meant everything. Show up to see Mr. Schwarzenegger play a cyborg assassin? Sure. How about a cop forced to play with kindergartners? Absolutely. What about a twin separated at birth from an unlikely Danny DeVito? Why not? In those days, the genre didn’t matter. Moviegoers showed up for the actors.

That is not the case today.

“We don’t create movie stars anymore,” said Mr. Godfrey, adding that studios have been pulling back on marketing and publicity commitments for years. “As a result, there are less and less meaningful names who will help open a movie.”

Mr. Robbins agreed that it was much more difficult today to become a global star in the vein of Mr. Cruise, not because of the studios’ commitments but rather the state of the industry.

“It’s Batman. It’s Spiderman. It’s very different,” he said in an interview from Cannes. “And it’s not just because a lot of these characters are hidden by a mask and tights and a cape. It’s a very different type of filmmaking. And the world is different because of streaming, and all of the other content, the fight for attention is just much more fierce than ever before. Thirty-six years ago when Top Gun came out, there was no streaming, there was no cellphone. There was no internet. We went to the theater to be entertained. There’s just so much choice now.”

The entertainment world has undergone seismic change. But Mr. Cruise’s success also owes a debt to his tirelessness. Will Smith, in his 2021 memoir, affectionately called Mr. Cruise a “cyborg” when it came to his endurance on the promotional circuit. Reminiscing about his own efforts to reach the pinnacle of stardom, Mr. Smith said that whenever he’d land in a country to hype a new movie, he would ask the local executives for Mr. Cruise’s promotional schedule, which often included four-and-a-half-hour stretches on a red carpet. “And I vowed to do two hours more than whatever he did in every country,” Mr. Smith wrote.

Mr. Smith wasn’t the only one to notice. Studio executives have come to rely on Mr. Cruise’s commitment to promotion as his superpower.

“He’s one of a dying breed that will literally work the world and treat the world as though each region is massively important. Because it is,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution. “So many others roll their eyes. ‘I don’t want to do that.’ With Tom, it’s always built in. It’s a massive undertaking. But it pays off. It’s why he has legions of fans around the world.”

Some would argue that the age of the movie star died when the Marvel Cinematic Universe took over pop culture and movies based on known intellectual property seemed to be the only way to get large numbers of people into theatres. Mr. Cruise has not been immune to these changes.

In the past decade, Mr. Cruise starred in original titles like American Made, Oblivion, and Edge of Tomorrow— all movies that played up his action bona fides. None were hits. His reboot of The Mummy, which was supposed to jump start Universal Pictures’ monster movie series, was a disappointment for the studio, generating only $80 million in domestic receipts. The series never took off.

But while not taking part in any superhero franchises, Mr. Cruise has managed to capitalize on intellectual property that he’s already successfully exploited. Roles like the homicide investigator Jack Reacher, and the secret agent Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, have performed well at the box office. He’s hoping to pull that off again with Top Gun: Maverick.

“I think there is so much choice in the world right now with the amount of content that is produced that every movie has turned into a bull’s-eye movie,” said David Ellison, chief executive of Skydance, the producer of Top Gun: Maverick and a number of other films with Mr. Cruise. “The opportunity to have something work and be anything less than A-plus is simply not the marketplace that we’re living in.”

Glen Powell, one of Mr. Cruise’s co-stars in Top Gun: Maverick, cites him as one of the reasons he pursued acting. Mr. Cruise is also the reason Mr. Powell is in the film. Mr. Powell initially tried out for the role of Rooster, the tough guy son of Maverick’s former wingman Goose — a part that went to Miles Teller. Disappointed when he was offered the role of the cocksure daredevil Hangman instead, Mr. Powell only took the part after Mr. Cruise gave him some advice: Don’t pick the best parts, pick the best movies and make the parts the best you can.

“I will never forget that moment,” Mr. Powell said in an interview. “He asked me, ‘What kind of career do you want?’ And I’m like, ‘You man, I’m trying to be you.’”

As such, he’s studied Mr. Cruise’s career and is trying to emulate it. He’s shied away from the superhero genre, so far, and has some theories on what makes Mr. Cruise unique.

“He is the guy that’s not trying to occupy the I.P. He’s trying to tell a compelling story that just ends up becoming the I.P. because it’s so good,” Mr. Powell said. He sees a substantive difference there — the difference between going to the movies to see Tom Cruise, the movie star, or going to see other I.P. Or, as Mr. Powell puts it: “There’s a difference between stepping into fandom rather than creating your own fandom.”

He knows he’s learned from the master. “Even if I pick up a little of what Tom taught me,” he said, “I’m going to be way more prepared than any other actor out there.”

He might. Or he might be learning from an outdated playbook.

There is a moment in Top Gun: Maverick where Ed Harris, playing Maverick’s superior, tells him, “The end is inevitable. Your kind is headed to extinction.”

And Mr. Cruise, still holding on to that brash self-confidence that made him a movie star four decades ago, grins at him and replies, “Maybe so, sir. But not today.”

There are plenty of people in the movie industry who hope he’s right.

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This 20-Year-Old Tom Cruise Movie Can Lay The Blueprint For His Future After Mission: Impossible

• Tom Cruise's action star status faces a challenge as he ages, so exploring villain roles could be the key to his future success after Mission: Impossible .
• A return to the character depth of his role in Collateral could provide Cruise with exciting new opportunities in his career.
• Practical stunt work sets Cruise apart in action films, but taking on antagonistic roles could help him stay relevant in the industry.

Tom Cruise has been a movie star for over forty years, and one of his most underrated films could be the key to the next phase of his career after Mission: Impossible . Cruise, in his most recent star era, has become synonymous with daring stunt work and large action set pieces in his blockbuster films. The two most notable examples are his long-running Mission: Impossible franchise, which is currently filming its eighth installment, and Top Gun: Maverick , which was the highest-grossing film of 2022 .

In many ways, Cruise is as popular as he's ever been and remains one of the last examples of a true movie star. There's just one issue he faces, and it's one that will only get worse with time: he's now in his 60s. He's still in amazing shape for his age and can still perform all the stunts his action roles require of him. Yet, at a certain point, Cruise just won't be able to physically accomplish these feats anymore, and the question will arise of what he will do to define the next era of his career.

10 Movies That Defined Tom Cruise's Career

Tom cruise should follow collateral's blueprint after mission: impossible.

The answer regarding a future after Mission: Impossible lies with one of Cruise's most memorable roles as the cold-blooded hitman Vincent in Michael Mann's Collateral . Collateral follows a single night in the life of cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx), who is forced to transport Vincent around L.A. as he crosses off targets on his hit list. The film doesn't just feature excellent action scenes but also a fascinating back-and-forth between the two leads. Many long exchanges of dialogue happen within Max's cab, and the audience sees him and Vincent argue philosophically about the value of human life and their differing ideologies.

Cruise had to train for Collateral since it was an unexpected role, as the actor had never played the main villain of a film before, and to this day hasn't done it again since. The uniqueness of this notion paid off, as Collateral proved to be a healthy hit. It grossed $220 million worldwide from an estimated $65 million budget (via Box Office Mojo ). Cruise's movie star charisma brought layers of charm to Vincent's sociopathic demeanor, and it is still widely considered one of the best performances of Cruise's long and illustrious career. A return to this type of role would be an exciting prospect for the actor.

Every Michael Mann Movie, Ranked Worst To Best

Villain roles can help tom cruise stay relevant.

As Cruise gets older, it'll become more challenging for him to remain at the center of these action franchises. Unlike films like Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny , which heavily relied on CGI to assist 81-year-old Harrison Ford with the action scenes, Cruise's movies use their practical stunt work as a selling point. Top Gun: Maverick had Cruise flying real jets , and Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One had him jumping off a massive cliff on a motorcycle. Too much CGI would cheapen the impact of these stunts, which have become a big part of Cruise's brand.

However, if Cruise takes on more antagonistic parts in movies like Collateral going forward, he could not only avoid putting his body at risk in as many huge stunts but also access an untapped well of potential film roles. Cruise would still be a selling point in whatever franchise he chooses to be a part of, and he'd be able to explore the darkness he displayed as Vincent all those years ago. It'd be an exciting development for fans to witness, full of possibilities, and could prove to be the key to Tom Cruise staying relevant through the 2020s and beyond.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Tom Cruise Doesn't Really Do Sequels Very Often, But There's Apparently One Movie His Co-Star Was Shocked Didn't Get A Follow-up

"He did bite me at the end..."

Unless we are talking about Mission: Impossible – M:I 8 is currently filming or the long-delayed Top Gun : Maverick – Tom Cruise isn’t known for making very many sequels to his flicks. But, according to one former cast member, there is one film in his oeuvre that he is shocked never got a follow-up. The former cast member in question is Christian Slater , who co-starred along with Cruise and Brad Pitt in one of the best films of the 90s , the film adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel Interview With The Vampire . According to the Heathers alum, he’s shocked that he and the Risky Business star never got a second bite at the neck, playing a vampire in a sequel.

Christian Slater Reflects on The Missed Sequel Opportunity

It's hard to believe it's been nearly three decades–the movie turns 30 this year–since we were first mesmerized by one of the most iconic vampire performances on screen. In an interview shared on Comicbook.com’s Chris Killian’s Instagram , Christian Slater discussed how he and Cruise were reflecting on the project. The pair expressed a mutual astonishment over the movie's lack of a sequel despite their roles becoming fan favorites. He recounted:

Tom Cruise and I were both surprised that Interview With The Vampire didn’t get a sequel. You know, that would have been fun. Uh, I mean, he did bite me at the end of that thing.

For my money, even three decades since its release, Interview With The Vampire is still one of the best vampire movies ever committed to celluloid. Upon release, it was a critical and financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing R-rated horror films of 1994, and grew to become a goth cult favorite. Not to mention, it introduced the broader world to actress Kirsten Dunst , a role Cruise helped the young actress secure thanks to some very practical advice.

The Enduring Legacy of 'Interview With the Vampire'

Tom Cruise's electrifying turn as the vampire Lestat was central to the film’s success. Initially, Anne Rice, the source material's author, hated Cruise’s casting in the role. However, his performance won her over and helped cement the film's place in cinematic history. Despite this success and the buzz around it, plans to continue Lestat's story with Cruise in a sequel never came to fruition. While the potential for a direct follow-up to this beloved film sparked plenty of discussions, ultimately, those plans remained just out of reach, leaving fans to wonder what might have been.

There was anticipation over a sequel starring the Top Gun A-lister, yet various factors, including rights issues, changes in production companies, and creative decisions, led to a different path for the book to screen adaptations of Rice's novels.

The next film in the series, Queen of the Damned, starring the late singer and actress Aaliyah , was released in 2002, but it did not involve Tom Cruise. Instead, Stuart Townsend took over the role of Lestat. The film combined elements from the second and third books of Rice's series, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned . Still, it diverged significantly from the source material and did not continue directly from where Interview left off.

Interview With The Vampire is enjoying a second adaptation and return to screens as a television series, which is gearing up for its second season on AMC .

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The Possibility Of A Sequel With Cruise

The ending of Interview with the Vampire set the stage perfectly for a sequel. It left audiences reeling from its final twist and introduced a new narrative thread with Daniel, the San Francisco reporter who becomes enthralled with Louis's tale of the undead. As Christian Slater hinted in the recent interview, the setup was ideal for a follow-up. Yet, despite the ripe storytelling potential, a direct continuation wasn't in the cards. Could a sequel with Cruise still happen? As the interviewers and Slater point out, Tom Cruise barely looks like he's aged since the last time he put on the Vampire Lestat's fangs. So, never say never.

Christian Slater's most recent work, another book adaptation, the series The Spiderwick Chronicles , is available now for free on The Roku Channel . Be sure to check out our 2024 movie schedule to see what upcoming horror movies are heading to a screen near you.

Ryan graduated from Missouri State University with a BA in English/Creative Writing. An expert in all things horror, Ryan enjoys covering a wide variety of topics. He's also a lifelong comic book fan and an avid watcher of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. 

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Screen Rant

Tom cruise films london protest scene for mission: impossible 8 in new set video.

Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg film a hectic scene together in a new Mission: Impossible 8 set video, which shows the pair amidst a protest in London.

• Tom Cruise hugs Simon Pegg as a crowd protests around them in a new Mission: Impossible 8 set video.
• The scene is filmed in London and features a heavy police presence.
• Whether Mission: Impossible 8 is the last entry in the franchise probably depends on how well it performs at the box office.

A new Mission: Impossible 8 set video shows Tom Cruise filming a scene in the middle of a large London protest. After first playing superspy Ethan Hunt back in 1996, Cruise has returned for six sequels, the most recent of which, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning , came out last summer. The movie star is reteaming with director Christopher McQuarrie for an upcoming eighth film, which has now been filming on and off for essentially two years.

As the planned Mission: Impossible 8 release date approaches, a new video shared by UnBoxPHD on YouTube shows Cruise and costar Simon Pegg, who plays Benji, filming a scene together in London as a protest kicks off around them.

Click here to see the Mission: Impossible 8 Set Video

The video, which is available at the link above, shows Cruise and Benji embracing each other before walking off through the crowd as a cameraman captures the action. Extras can be seen pumping their fists in the air and looking angry, though the context of the protest is not yet clear. There's also a heavy police presence in the scene, with London officers shown in the background holding rifles.

10 Biggest Details & Reveals From Mission: Impossible 8's Set Photos & Videos

Will mission: impossible 8 be the last one, what tom cruise has said about the franchise's future.

Originally, Mission: Impossible 8 had the Dead Reckoning: Part Two subtitle, with the film serving as a continuation of last summer's sequel. When the seventh film underperformed at the box office, however, this subtitle was dropped, and the next installment now doesn't have an official title. Though the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning reviews were glowing from critics and audiences, the somewhat muted box office (due in part to the behemoth that was Oppenheimer and Barbie 's dual release) has evidently resulted in a bit of a course correction, the extent of which remains to be seen.

There was talk before the release of Mission: Impossible 7 that the eighth installment could serve as the last, but this was never officially confirmed. Cruise himself said last summer that he hopes to continue making new entries in the franchise until he's nearly 80. McQuarrie, too, said last June that there are already ideas for Mission: Impossible 9 and potentially beyond . These comments, however, were before the seventh movie failed to meet expectations.

Cruise is expected to appear in the in-development Top Gun 3 and is gearing up to make a movie aboard the I.S.S. in outer space. If Mission: Impossible 9 does happen, it could be a number of years away.

Unlike the cliffhanger Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning ending , it seems likely that the next movie will feature a more definitive conclusion for Ethan and his team . This way, if the movie is met with a more muted box office response, it can serve as the final chapter if need be. If Mission: Impossible 8 is a success, however, it seems very likely that Cruise and McQuarrie will team up for yet another action-packed adventure.

Source: UnBoxPHD

Mission: Impossible 8

Mission: Impossible 8 is the direct sequel to Dead Reckoning - Part One and is the eighth film in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Said to be the final film, Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and more will reprise their roles in Ethan Hunt's IMF team as they face off against a dangerous foe from their past.

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Tom Cruise Apparently Started Breakdancing at Victoria Beckham's Birthday Party and Left Crowd 'Dumbfounded'

The 'Mission: Impossible' actor reportedly cruised over to the dancefloor at the former Spice Girl's birthday party in London.

Tom Cruise apparently shut it down on the dancefloor at Victoria Beckham ’s birthday party.

According to the New York Post , Cruise, 61, is a longtime friend of the former pop singer and her husband, David, and was a guest at the formal event held at the private club Oswald’s in London on Saturday night.

After dinner, the Mission: Impossible actor apparently cruised over to the dancefloor and showed off his breakdancing skills, leaving a reported 100 guests stunned at the sight. Or, to quote a Daily Mail source , "People were absolutely dumbfounded."

Among the A-list guests who may have witnessed some Maverick-level moves were Gordon Ramsey, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek, Jason Statham, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Guy Ritchie.

Also included in the star-studded celebration were Victoria’s former bandmates, the Spice Girls . Although no cameras were allowed at the event, David Beckham generously shared a small clip of his wife along with Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, and Geri Halliwell performing their 1997 hit single, “ Stop .”

View this photo on Instagram

“Best night ever! Happy Birthday to me! I love you all so much! #SpiceUpYourLife” wrote Victoria on her Instagram account.

The former Posh Spice shared snaps with her husband and their four children, Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 19, and Harper, 12.

No footage of Cruise breakdancing has surfaced online, so the thought will just have to live in your imagination until they find a way to write it into Top Gun 3 .

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Chris Pine Says He Grew Up Idolizing Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman (Exclusive)

The actor also named Lee Marvin and Walter Brennan among some of his early influences

Karwai Tang/WireImage; Monica Schipper/Getty; Daniele Venturelli/WireImage

As a burgeoning actor, Chris Pine had his sights set high.

Speaking with PEOPLE on Wednesday, April 24, at the premiere of his directorial debut Poolman in Los Angeles, the 43-year-old named several actors who got their start in Hollywood before him who he looked up to when he was growing up.

"I remember being 8 years old and dressing up in a fedora and a three-piece suit and pretending to be a character in Bugsy Malone . Or taking a pencil and pretending I was Tom Cruise in Top Gun ," Pine says. "So all of the business appealed to me and all the characters."

"But certainly ... I guess I simultaneously wanted to be Harrison Ford and also wanted to be like Gary Oldman or Lee Marvin , or Walter Brennan," he adds.

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Todd Williamson/JanuaryImages/Shutterstock 

Set in Los Angeles, Poolman follows pool attendee Darren Barrenman (Pine), "a native Los Angeleno who spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block and fighting to make his hometown a better place to live," according to a synopsis of the film, which Pine also co-wrote.

"When he is tasked by a femme fatale to uncover the truth behind a shady business deal, Darren enlists the help of his friends to take on a corrupt politician and a greedy land developer," the synopsis adds. "His investigation reveals a hidden truth about his beloved city and himself."  

Pine recalled to PEOPLE at Wednesday's premiere how he "grew up in a specific kind of L.A. that was kind of on the Boulevard of Dreams and kind of on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

"I saw the highs and lows of the industry. And I grew up around people that were living the dream and people that desperately wanted to be in the dream," he says. "So it's no accident that everybody in this film, even the bad guy, was a musical-theater major that came out here to do a pilot."

"My girlfriend [in the movie] was once on Melrose Place and is now a Pilates instructor, and my best friend Jack Dennisoff, [played by] Danny DeVito , is a B-movie horror director that never really made it," Pine continues. "So this is really my tribute to that part of Los Angeles."

That doesn't mean the city doesn't have its downsides for him — in fact, he tells PEOPLE that what "frustrates" him about L.A. is "everything."

"The fact that we don't have above-ground public transportation, that the red cars were ripped out, that we don't really have a deep appreciation for some of the fabulous architecture that we have here, that we're building buildings right now that I feel like are built for practicality more than they are in the spirit of beauty," the Wonder Woman actor explains.

"That disappoints me, but it is my home," Pine adds.

Poolman hits theaters May 10.

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