Tom Cruise brings ‘Final Reckoning’ to Cannes, but won’t bid ‘Mission: Impossible’ adieu yet

CANNES, France (AP) — Three years after flying into the Cannes Film Festival with “Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise again kicked up a storm on the Croisette with Wednesday’s premiere of “Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning.”

Christopher McQuarrie’s latest “Mission: Impossible” installment was the biggest Hollywood tentpole wading ashore in Cannes this year. It, and Cruise, stirred a frenzy at the French Riviera festival, which again played eager host to the American movie star.

Just his arrival outside the premiere, beamed onto the screen in the Grand Théâtre Lumière, drew a response. When Cruise stepped out his car, oohs and applause reverberated through the theater. Cruise spent several minutes signing autographs for fans lined up on the Croisette.

Some had wondered whether Cruise might make a more daring arrival. When Cruise received an honorary Palme d’Or from the festival in 2022, the “Top Gun: Maverick” premiere included an impressively timed jet flyover. Instead, on Day 2 of the festival, he and the film’s cast walked the red carpet accompanied by an orchestra performing Lalo Schifrin’s “Mission: Impossible” theme on the Palais steps. “Bravo!” cheered Cruise.

Though selfies are frowned upon on the Cannes red carpet, McQuarrie took several of the group, which included Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett and Hannah Waddingham.

“Final Reckoning,” the eighth “Mission: Impossible” movie and a follow-up to 2023’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” is again a heaping serving of outlandish stunts in a globe-trotting, world-saving plot that greatly relies on Cruise’s sheer force of will to propel it.

The film, which draws to a close McQuarrie’s extended AI apocalypse tale, drew mostly good reviews following its screening and garnered a five-minute standing ovation.

“To be here in Cannes and have these moments, as a kid when we were growing up, I really can’t even dream about something like this happening,” Cruise said, addressing the audience. “I’m very grateful for 30 years to be able to entertain you with this franchise.”

Throughout much of the “Mission: Impossible” parade in Cannes, Cruise and McQuarrie lavished praise upon one another. Cruise told McQuarrie, who took over directing the franchise with 2015’s “Rogue Nation” that he looked forward to making “a bunch of other kind of movies with you.”

“When I was a kid growing up, I was one of those kids who didn’t quite fit in. A lot of my life was imaginative play,” said McQuarrie. “And I got to grow up and have my very own action figure, who was actually willing to do just about every crazy thing I could think of.”

Earlier in the day, Cruise joined McQuarrie midway through the director’s masterclass talk. There was no press conference for the film, which meant Cruise and company faced no questions from reporters. But Cruise’s surprise appearance allowed the 62-year-old star a moment to reflect on his 30 years with “Mission: Impossible.” As to whether “Final Reckoning” is a last hurrah for him, he demurred, calling it “the culmination of three decades of work.”

“I’d rather just people see it and enjoy,” Cruise said.

Cruise, to no one’s surprise, said he relishes the stunt work in “Mission: Impossible.”

“I don’t mind encountering the unknown. I like the feeling. It’s just an emotion for me. It’s something that is not paralyzing,” Cruise said.

Cruise, McQuarrie and Paramount Pictures, which will release “Final Reckoning” in North American theaters on May 23, are hoping the installment returns the franchise to box-office heights.

“Dead Reckoning Part One” was considered a box-office disappointment, though it ultimately grossed $571.1 million worldwide. Still, with production budgets close to $300 million for these films, a lot is riding on “Final Reckoning.” Cruise has been traversing the world — with stops in Japan, South Korea and England in the run-up to Cannes — to drum up excitement. Paramount chief executive Brian Robbins also attended the Cannes premiere.

Cruise and McQuarrie, as they did around the release of “Top Gun: Maverick” (which McQuarrie co-wrote and produced), have made themselves passionate pitchmen for the big-screen experience. McQuarrie on Wednesday granted: “I worry for the fate and survival of cinema.”

“Streaming is in danger of driving the industry into extinction,” said McQuarrie. “The advantage a filmmaker has entering the world is that he doesn’t have the pressure of an opening weekend.”

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