Tom Cruise is already the biggest movie star in the world, but recently he seems to have found an additional calling as an ambassador for theatrical screenings. The actor has reason to want to get people into theaters, with his own Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One set to bow next month, but Cruise has been hyping other big summer releases as well, and now the stars of those films are returning the favor.
Recently, Tom Cruise made an Instagram post where he hyped up two films that have nothing to do with him: Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Both movies are set for release on July 21, a rare case of two major tentpole studio films hitting the same day. Cruise posted pictures of himself, along with Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie, in front of movie posters for both films, holding tickets to the movies they had apparently purchased.
Now, it seems to be becoming a bit of a trend, Robbie and Gerwig have now done the same. Your move, Christopher Nolan.
Mission: Accepted! pic.twitter.com/DJ2gm5e4XUJune 30, 2023
Honestly, to complete the trilogy, we do need a picture of Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy in front of posters for the Barbie movie and the new Mission: Impossible. It’s really the only appropriate thing. On the one hand, a smiling Christopher Nolan in front of a Barbie poster holding a movie ticket seems like something that we are unlikely to see. Then again, that’s why it would be so perfect. To be fair, few people are as big of an advocate for the theatrical experience as Christopher Nolan. Maybe it could happen.
The fact that Barbie and Oppenheimer are set to open together has set up a strange sort of competition between them. While the two films almost certainly will have very different audiences, the fact is that we so rarely see two major releases like this open on the same day. Because of this, people are very curious about what the final box office numbers will look like. Cruise’s point here seems to be that nobody really needs to choose between them, and seeing the women behind Barbie supporting Oppenheimer certainly seems to indicate that they don’t see this as a competition.
Tom Cruise’s role in this whole thing was to show off the number of great movies that are coming out this summer. He had also hyped up this weekend’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny alongside Barbie and Oppenheimer, and Cruise had previously seen The Flash which he was also reportedly a fan of.
While a few individual films, like Cruise’s own Top Gun: Maverick have proven that audiences will go to the theaters in big numbers for the right film, it does seem like we’re seeing a lot of movies struggle at the box office that under other circumstances might have been big hits. Top Gun was credited by Steven Spielberg himself as a movie that “saved” theaters, and it looks like the actor is trying to continue to do that, not just with his own films.
