Weekly Rewind : Tom Cruise


After scoring the top-grossing film of his career with last year's Mission: Impossible 2, Tom Cruise returns to theaters on December 14 with the dramatic thriller Vanilla Sky. Starring in hit movies has become second nature to the popular actor who has secured eight $100M+ blockbusters in his career including five straight from 1992 to 1996. Few good men have displayed the kind of clout at the turnstiles as Tom Cruise. As one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, the actor's last seven major releases have grossed a staggering $2.1 billion worldwide for a stunning average of $305M per picture. Films like Taps, Losin' It, The Outsiders, and All the Right Moves made Cruise into a teen idol in the early 1980s before Risky Business grossed an impressive $64M turning him into a bona fide box office star. The Golden Globe-winning actor then parlayed his sex symbol status into two huge blockbuster smashes - 1986's Top Gun which soared to $177M and 1988's Rain Man which nabbed four Oscars and $173M in domestic ticket sales.

Up next for Tom Cruise is a can't-miss collaboration with Steven Spielberg in the science fiction thriller Minority Report set for next summer. Clinging to his thirties, the talented star could certainly make many more installments in the Mission: Impossible franchise which would make Paramount very happy. And winning an Academy Award is still on his to-do list so expect him to take a variety of roles while keeping with his strategy of working with the industry's top directors.

The table below lists the box office grosses of Tom Cruise's starring vehicles over the last dozen years:


Tom Cruise Films (1989 - 2000)
Title Opening ($M) Total ($M) Release Distributor
Mission: Impossible 2 70.8 215.4 May 00 Paramount
Eyes Wide Shut 21.7 55.7 Jul 99 Warner Bros.
Jerry Maguire 17.1 153.8 Dec 96 Sony
Mission: Impossible 56.8 181.0 May 96 Paramount
Interview with the Vampire 36.4 105.3 Nov 94 Warner Bros.
The Firm 32.5 158.4 Jun 93 Paramount
A Few Good Men 15.5 141.3 Dec 92 Columbia
Far and Away 12.9 58.9 May 92 Universal
Days of Thunder 15.5 82.7 Jun 90 Paramount
Born on the Fourth of July 11.0 70.0 Dec 89 Universal
TOTAL 1,222.5



Updated : December 5, 2001

Written by Gitesh Pandya