Summary
Very few movie stars have the aura and mysticism thatTom Cruisehas cultivated throughout his long and storied 40-year career. Often known for his starring roles as Ethan Hunt in theMission: Impossiblefranchise and Maverick inTop Gun, Cruise has remained relevant thanks to his attachment tonotorious multi-billion-dollar franchisesandacclaimed work with visionary directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.
Viewed as one of the last movie stars in Hollywood, Cruise has had an assortment of box office smashes that have proved his worth to the industry, grossing billions of dollars, furthering the legacy of the action star as he enters his twilight years.These areTom Cruise’s high-grossing films,from action spectacles to sci-fi remakes.
Cruise’s second outing as Ethan Hunt inMission: Impossible 2sees the actor andacclaimed action director John Woodeliver a messy but entertaining action movie, establishingMission: Impossibleas a premier franchise in Hollywood. The sequel sees Cruise’s Hunt tracking down a rogue agent in order to stop him from unleashing a deadly virus, with the stakes being tremendously high.
Filled with love triangles and intense action sequences, the movie proved financially successful, earning $546m globally and cementing Hunt as an action hero audiences were yearning to see more of.
The final chapters of the famed franchise begin withMission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, the first of a two-part finale to the legendaryM:Ifranchise.Setting Hunt’s final mission in motion, the elusive agent and his trusty IMF team are tasked with going on a global search to find a way to destroy an AI system that threatens the entire world. Meanwhile, a mysterious old foe of Hunt’s reemergesto do the AI’s bidding.
While not the box office force that many had hoped for,Dead Reckoningstill brought in $571m revenue during its stint at the box office, with the out-of-this-world stunts Cruise gets up to still eliciting edge-of-your-seat moments.
Teaming up with one of the medium’s greatest visionaries in Steven Spielberg,War of the Worldsbrought Cruise into the Sci-Fi genre, delivering financially on the alien invasion epic and hauling just over $600m.War of the Worldsfocuses on a dockworker’s attempts to protect his family from extraterrestrial threats that violently invade Earth.
Featuring all-starnames like Cruise, Spielberg, and Morgan Freeman, the movie’s intriguing plot of an alien invasion on Earth became a must-see for many audiences. In particular,War of the Worlds' sense of scale, paired with its duo of Hollywood heavyweights, Spielberg and Cruise, catapulted the movie into smash-hit territory, which was particularly impressive for a non-franchise film.
Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nationcontinues thedaring stunts and high-octane actionthat theMission: Impossiblefranchise is renowned for, with Cruise and his creative team soaring to new heights in the movie. Bringing Christopher McQuarrie onboard to direct,Rogue Nationcontinues Hunt’s journey as the search for The Syndicate, a group of high-level agents, goes international while the CIA commences a mission to find Hunt and his comrades.
Grossing a total of $682m during its run in cinemas,Rogue Nationcontinued the franchise’s financial growth from one movie to the next, in part powered by Cruise’s commitment to bringing never-seen-before stunts to the silver screen, andRogue Nation’sengrossing espionage storytelling.
The fourth entry in theMission: Impossiblefranchise,Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, continues the momentum the IP was building, reaching just shy of the $700m mark in its worldwide box office total. InGhost Protocol, Hunt and the IMF squad work without resources as they aim to find a way to prove their innocence after being implicated in a bombing attack that tarnishes the IMF’s reputation.
Marking a shift for the franchise, Cruise goes above and beyond in terms of stunts, showcasing his bravery and commitment to the craft with his daringclimb of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, takingMission: Impossibleto new heights, literally.Such stunts, along with thereinvention of the franchise, resulted in a significant jump in box office revenue compared to its predecessor,Mission: Impossible 3, almost doubling its worldwide gross.
Mission: Impossible—Falloutstunned audiences upon its release. Cruise’s variety of groundbreaking stunts andthe intensity of the film’s action sequenceswere unlike any of the franchise’s previous entries, and audiences arrivedin droves to see the spectacle.
Grossing just under $800m, word of mouth and strong critical scores aided the sixth entry in theMission: Impossiblefranchise, with Hunt and his dedicated IMF crew attempting to foil the plans of a terrorist group that sees Henry Cavill’s August Walker taking center stage as the antagonist opposite Cruise.
To the surprise of many,Top Gun: Maverick, while highly anticipated, smashed box office expectations, shattering Cruise’s previous record by a country mile. It delivered nearly $1.5 billion in total revenue, ranking as one of the most profitable and successful movies of all time.
FollowingPete Mitchell’s return and with a new generation of pilots to teach, featuring budding acting talents in Glen Powell,Lewis Pullman, and Danny Ramirez,Top Gun: Maverick’sthrilling and captivating ride had audiences and critics alike givingrave reviews. Enhanced by its strong patriotic themes that propelled the movie to greatness,Top Gun: Maverickcontinues to illustrate that Cruise still stands out as an icon of Hollywood while entering the twilight of his career.
