News Analysis India

Tag: Tom Cruise

  • Doctor Strange’ remains atop box office as ‘Top Gun’ looms

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES:  Doctor Strange and his multiverse got to linger a little longer atop the weekend box office as Tom Cruise and “Top Gun” wait in the wings.

    Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” was the top-earning film of the weekend for the third straight week, bringing in $31.6 million in 4,534 North American theaters, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

    “Downton Abbey: A New Era” made a strong opening showing for Focus Features with $16 million from 3,820 theaters, but there has been no real blockbuster competition for “Doctor Strange.”

    “This film has had a pretty wide-open marketplace,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “This weekend really is, this is the proverbial calm before the storm.”

    That storm will come in the form of the long-awaited, and long-delayed, the release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel that arrives next week on Memorial Day weekend, 36 years after the original smash hit and cultural landmark. It flies in amid sky-high hype.

    “The marketing for this movie has really been going on for about three years,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s a pretty long runway to build up excitement.”

    Cruise had the film festival in Cannes, France, abuzz on Wednesday with a whirlwind appearance for the film’s European premiere that included a fly-over of French fighter jets and an honorary Palme d’Or award.

    “Top Gun” represents two seemingly fading phenomena — the major movie star and the big-screen-only experience, for which Cruise has been a tireless ambassador. And the industry is hoping they will help bring a more familiar summer for theaters.

    “This is going to be one of the most important Memorial Day weekends ever, considering what the stakes are,” Dergarabedian said. “We didn’t have a traditional summer movie season for two years.”

    Before the pandemic, the summer box office season generally brought in more than $4 billion annually. After an essentially non-existent 2020, the 2021 take, in a year of recovery, was $1.75 billion. This year’s crop of films, which also includes “Jurassic World Dominion” and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” could double that, Dergarabedian said.

    But while the world waits, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” crossed the $800 million mark in global grosses, surpassing “The Batman” to become the top-grossing film of the year.

    Released by the Walt Disney Co. and directed by Sam Raimi, “ Doctor Strange 2 ” benefitted from being the first Marvel movie to follow “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer played a pivotal role.

    It also builds upon the popular Disney+ series “Wandavision” and contains a number of cameos that fans didn’t want to be spoiled.

    Holdover family films “The Bad Guys” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” took the third and fourth spots. Universal’s “The Bad Guys” added $6.1 million in its fifth week. “Sonic 2” earned $3.9 million in its seventh.

    Director Alex Garland’s folk horror thriller “Men” brought in $3.3 million for the production company and distributor A24.

    Meanwhile, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is still going strong even after nine weeks in release. The A24 film picked up an additional $3.3 million, down only 6% from the previous weekend, bringing its total grosses to $47 million.

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” $31.6 million.

    2. “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” $16 million.

    3. “The Bad Guys,” $6.1 million.

    4. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $3.9 million.

    5. “Men,” $3.3 million.

    6. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” $3.1 million.

    7. “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” $1.9 million.

    8. “Firestarter,” $1.9 million.

    9. “The Lost City,” $1.5 million.

    10. “The Northman,” $1 million.

  • Tom Cruise reveals ‘life-changing’ role in ‘Top Gun’

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Tom Cruise says landing the role of Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in ‘Top Gun’ was “life-changing.”

    The Hollywood star had always dreamt of being either a pilot or an actor growing up, and when he could combine both careers in one film, it was a big thrill for him, reports aceshowbiz.com.

    The 59-year-old actor told HELLO! magazine: “All I ever wanted to be was a pilot or an actor, so ‘Top Gun’ was a huge moment in so many respects, including my passion for aviation.”

    He further gushed, “It was life-changing for me.”

    “I got to actually fly in an F-14 jet which was a dream come true, and play a character I loved in Maverick,” Cruise shared.

    For the latest movie in the blockbuster series, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, he got to do more plane stunts than ever before.

    Cruise said, “The P-51 Mustang you see in the movie is actually my plane, so I got to pilot in those sequences.” He continued, “I also got to be in the jet fighter a lot more this time, which was thrilling. It was something I had been working up to.”

    The sequel to the 1986 action-drama comes with an epic soundtrack by Oscar winner Lady GaGa in ‘Hold My Hand’.

    On how the pop megastar came to record the song, he said: “I had seen one of Lady GaGa’s shows in Las Vegas and been amazed, so I called her to ask if she could help us.”

    He added, “She sent the song over and it was perfect. It really is the heartbeat of the score.”

  • interview| Miles Teller on ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Was nervous to lend myself to this world.

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Actor Miles Teller says he was nervous to be a part of “Top Gun: Maverick” as he had “big shoes” to fill when superstar Tom Cruise picked him up to play the son of a beloved character in the franchise.

    “Maverick” is a much-awaited follow-up to the 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun”, which changed Cruise’s life and career, making him an overnight Hollywood heartthrob for his performance as suave and daring US Navy aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

    The sequel features Teller, known for some of the recent hits like “The Spectacular Now”, “Whiplash”, “Bleed for This” and “Only The Brave”, as Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, a character that was played by Anthony Edwards in the original.

    Teller, 35, said he was “apprehensive” about joining the sequel, which was mounted on a big scale as he has always focused on doing “smaller-scale things” in his career.

    “I was a little apprehensive about stepping into something that was kind of set up to be this huge thing. I’ve been in a couple of big movies, but for the most part I’ve tended to do some smaller-scale things. So, I was nervous about kind of lending myself to that world, but it’s something that I also was just incredibly proud and really honored to be a part of.”

    “I mean, when Tom Cruise handpicks you to be his co-star in a movie and to play the son of Goose, those are big shoes to fill. So I just felt like if Tom thinks I’m the right guy, then I think I’m the right guy too,” Teller told PTI in a Zoom interview. 

    The action spectacle is set over 30 years after the events of Tony Scott-directed “Top Gun” and sees Maverick training a group of Top Gun graduates, including Rooster, for a specialized mission.

    Teller said he was inspired by the superstar’s “work ethic” and relentless pursuit of achieving perfection. “Tom just never stops working and he’s never really even satisfied with good or great. He puts so much time into these movies that you see him in. And so his work ethic was something that I found really inspiring,” he added.

    For Teller, “Top Gun: Maverick” is yet another movie where he could push the envelope with his character, something that he previously did in movies like “Whiplash”, “Bleed for This” and “Only The Brave”.

    “I think in my life I’m pretty chill. So, these movies and certain performances, give me an opportunity to kind of go to the extreme that you’re not able to go to in life. You’re able to do some things through these scenes that if you were to do in real life, people would say, ‘Oh my God! This guy is so dramatic or this guy is too intense’.”

    “So I do tend to gravitate towards those roles. I love when the stakes are high, I really enjoy movies that aren’t afraid to kind of push the envelope a little bit,” Teller added.

    Directed by Joseph Kosinski, “Top Gun: Maverick” is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie and David Ellison.

    The film also features Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis with Ed Harris and Val Kilmer.

    The Paramount Pictures movie is exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Studios and will release in theatres on May 27.

  • INTERVIEW| Miles Teller on ‘Top Gun Maverick’: Was nervous to lend myself to this world

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Actor Miles Teller says he was nervous to be a part of “Top Gun: Maverick” as he had “big shoes” to fill when superstar Tom Cruise picked him up to play the son of a beloved character in the franchise.

    “Maverick” is a much-awaited follow-up to the 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun”, which changed Cruise’s life and career, making him an overnight Hollywood heartthrob for his performance as suave and daring US Navy aviator Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

    The sequel features Teller, known for some of the recent hits like “The Spectacular Now”, “Whiplash”, “Bleed for This” and “Only The Brave”, as Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, a character that was played by Anthony Edwards in the original.

    Teller, 35, said he was “apprehensive” about joining the sequel, which was mounted on a big scale as he has always focused on doing “smaller-scale things” in his career.

    “I was a little apprehensive about stepping into something that was kind of set up to be this huge thing. I’ve been in a couple of big movies, but for the most part I’ve tended to do some smaller-scale things. So, I was nervous about kind of lending myself to that world, but it’s something that I also was just incredibly proud and really honored to be a part of.”

    “I mean, when Tom Cruise handpicks you to be his co-star in a movie and to play the son of Goose, those are big shoes to fill. So I just felt like if Tom thinks I’m the right guy, then I think I’m the right guy too,” Teller told PTI in a Zoom interview. 

    The action spectacle is set over 30 years after the events of Tony Scott-directed “Top Gun” and sees Maverick training a group of Top Gun graduates, including Rooster, for a specialized mission.

    Teller said he was inspired by the superstar’s “work ethic” and relentless pursuit of achieving perfection. “Tom just never stops working and he’s never really even satisfied with good or great. He puts so much time into these movies that you see him in. And so his work ethic was something that I found really inspiring,” he added.

    For Teller, “Top Gun: Maverick” is yet another movie where he could push the envelope with his character, something that he previously did in movies like “Whiplash”, “Bleed for This” and “Only The Brave”.

    “I think in my life I’m pretty chill. So, these movies and certain performances, give me an opportunity to kind of go to the extreme that you’re not able to go to in life. You’re able to do some things through these scenes that if you were to do in real life, people would say, ‘Oh my God! This guy is so dramatic or this guy is too intense’.”

    “So I do tend to gravitate towards those roles. I love when the stakes are high, I really enjoy movies that aren’t afraid to kind of push the envelope a little bit,” Teller added.

    Directed by Joseph Kosinski, “Top Gun: Maverick” is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie and David Ellison.

    The film also features Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis with Ed Harris and Val Kilmer.

    The Paramount Pictures movie is exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Studios and will release in theatres on May 27.

  • Mission Impossible 7  title, first footage revealed at CinemaCon

    By Express News Service

    Hollywood star Tom Cruise will be returning as Ethan Hunt in the seventh installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. The title of the same has been revealed as Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Paramount Pictures revealed the tentpole’s official title during its Thursday presentation at CinemaCon.

    Cruise was not present at this year’s convention. However, when he appeared last year, he did talk about the stunt sequences in the film. He had said, “far and away the most dangerous thing I’ve attempted.”

    Audiences at the convention got a sneak preview of that anxiety-inducing moment, and more, in the high-stakes trailer, which hasn’t been made available to the public. His stunts have gotten so outrageous that everyone in the room laughed when Ethan Hunt nosedives off a cliff while on his motorcycle and then free-falls into the abyss, notes a report in Variety.

    The trailer was stuffed with action-packed footage, including vintage-looking trains flying off tracks, deadly emerald-coloured clouds of biochemical weapons, and plenty of brutal street combat. “You’re fighting to save an ideal that doesn’t exist… never did,” Henry Czerny’s character Eugene Kittridge, the former director of the IMF, tells Hunt. “You need to pick a side.”

    The public will be able to see the trailer on May 27 as it is set to release along with Top Gun: Maverick. Since he was not at Caesars Palace, Cruise sent along a pre-recorded video that was basically unintelligible because the actor was hanging from an airplane. “Please enjoy,” he told the audience. “And hey! Let’s try to have a great summer.”

    The screening on Thursday is the first time a wide audience will watch the movie. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is also going to the Cannes Film Festival next month.The film is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who also worked on 2015’s Rogue Nation and 2018’s Fallout. 

  • Mission: Impossible 7| Tom Cruise-starrer titled ‘Dead Reckoning: Part 1’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: The seventh instalment of Tom Cruise-led “Mission: Impossible” has received an official title. During Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures’ presentation at the ongoing CinemaCon convention, Cruise revealed that the latest film has been titled “Mission: Impossible 7 – Dead Reckoning: Part 1”.

    The Hollywood star sent a pre-recorded video for the film’s presentation from South Africa, where he is currently filming for the eighth part of the long-running action series, reported Deadline. The actor, who was standing atop a biplane, said, “Please enjoy. And hey! Let’s try to have a great summer.”

    The studio then played a teaser that gave a sneak peak into all the action sequences planned by the makers, including one where Cruise’s Ethan Hunt nose dives off a cliff while on his motorcycle and then free-falls into the abyss.

    Paramount has planned the seventh and eighth instalments as two back-to-back films and they are expected to bring an end to the franchise. Both films are being directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and will introduce new cast members Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Rob Delaney and Indira Varma.

    Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Henry Czerny are reprising their characters from the earlier movies. “Mission: Impossible 7 – Dead Reckoning: Part 1” will open in the US theatres on July 14, 2023, with the eighth and presumably final movie coming out on June 28, 2024.

  • Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ official title revealed

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Tom Cruise will be returning as Ethan Hunt in the seventh instalment of the ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise called ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’.Paramount Pictures revealed the tentpole’s official title during its Thursday presentation at CinemaCon, the annual trade show for theatre owners.Cruise, who is usually a regular presence at the convention in Las Vegas, wasn’t in attendance, reports ‘Variety’.Though in fairness, he attended last year’s CinemaCon to talk up the death-defying stunts in ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ before the movie’s release date was pushed back by a year due to Covid.At that time, he was most excited about driving a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway, an antic he called “far and away the most dangerous thing I’ve attempted.”Audiences got a sneak preview of that anxiety-inducing moment – and more – in the high-stakes trailer, which hasn’t been made available to the public.His stunts have gotten so outrageous that everyone in the room laughed when Ethan Hunt nose dives off a cliff while on his motorcycle and then free-falls into the abyss.General audiences will be able to watch the teaser in front of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, which hits theatres on May 27.Though plot details for ‘MI7’ are mostly ambiguous, Hunt and his team of operatives are again faced with an existential threat.The trailer was stuffed with action-packed footage, including vintage-looking trains flying off tracks, deadly emerald-coloured clouds of biochemical weapons, and plenty of brutal street combat.”You’re fighting to save an ideal that doesn’t exist… never did,” Henry Czerny’s character Eugene Kittridge, the former director of the IMF, tells Hunt.”You need to pick a side.”Since he was not at Caesars Palace, Cruise sent along a pre-recorded video that was basically unintelligible because the actor was hanging from an airplane.”Please enjoy,” he told the audience.”And hey! Let’s try to have a great summer.”Cruise loomed large over Paramount’s three-hour presentation; the studio devoted nearly the entire time to screening his other high-profile blockbuster, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, a sequel to the 1986 action adventure.Thursday’s screening marks the first time a wide audience will see the movie, which is going to the Cannes Film Festival next month.Christopher McQuarrie returns to direct ‘Mission: Impossible – 7’ after steering the franchise’s fifth and sixth installment – 2015’s ‘Rogue Nation’ and 2018’s ‘Fallout’.The latter became the highest-grossing entry in the long-running series, grossing nearly $800 million at the global box office.Along with Cruise, who once again stars as an IMF agent known to occasionally hang off airplanes and skyscrapers, ‘MI’ stars Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Frederick Schmidt will also return.Newcomers to the franchise include Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss and Cary Elwes.’MI7′, which has been delayed several times during the pandemic, is scheduled to open in theatres on July 14, 2023.’Dead Reckoning Part Two’, as it will presumably be called, is set to be released on June 28, 2024.

  • Cannes Film Festival to pay special tribute to Tom Cruise

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Cannes Film Festival has shared details of the ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ screening and the Tom Cruise special tribute.

    This is expected to be the film’s international premiere with the global premiere in San Diego, reports ‘Deadline’.

    “Tom Cruise will be in attendance in Cannes on May 18, 2022 for the screening of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, scheduled for release on May 25 in France and May 27 in the US. The Festival will also pay a special tribute to Tom Cruise for his career.

    “‘Top Gun hero Maverick’, will be back in cinemas all over the world and Tom Cruise will return to the Festival de Cannes where he has made only one appearance before: on May 18, 1992, for Ron Howard’s ‘Far and Away’, the closing film of the 45th Festival.”

    “That evening, he had awarded the Palme d’Or to director Bille August for his film ‘The Best Intentions’. Exactly thirty years later, on May 18, 2022, the Festival de Cannes will pay him an exceptional tribute for his lifetime achievements. On that special day, Tom Cruise will have an on-stage conversation with journalist Didier Allouch in the afternoon and will walk up the steps of the Palais des Festivals for the evening screening of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, directed by Joseph Kosinski.”

  • Tom Cruise eyes ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ as final film of franchise

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Tom Cruise is seeing the end of his missions. The actor, who has portrayed Ethan Hunt since the first film, reportedly plots ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ as the final installment of the franchise.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cruise, who also serves as producer, has begun working on the eighth and possibly last “M:I” movie, with Christopher McQuarrie returning as writer and director, reports aceshowbiz.com.

    This detail comes as part of the outlet’s report about Cruise’s dispute with Paramount over the release strategy of ‘Mission: Impossible VII’.

    According to the website, the Cruise has lawyered up as he cannot agree with the studio’s plan to give the seventh installment a 45-day theatrical window, far shorter than his usual three-month run, before streaming on Paramount+.

    “For (Cruise), 45 days is like going day-and-date,” a Paramount source told THR.

    “He also felt that setting a date when the movie could be seen on the service would discourage people from going to the theatre.”

    The issue has arisen since the movie was still in production, but it remains unsolved as both parties reportedly agreed to postpone it until the film is finished. Cruise, however, keeps holding out the completion of the film until he hammers out a great deal for ‘M:I 8’.

    According to the outlet, “by holding on to the film as a work in progress while working on the eighth, Cruise and his writer-director, Christopher McQuarrie, ensure that Paramount won’t have much luck imposing budget restrictions on what is allegedly the final installment in the franchise.”

    Such strategy also gives Cruise, who has creative control, flexibility with respect to the cliffhanger ending of ‘M:I 7’.

    ‘M:I 7’ has been delayed several times, with the initial release date on July 23, 2021. It is now due out on July 14, 2023.

    As for ‘M:I 8’, it is scheduled to be released on June 8, 2024.

  • Release of Mission Impossible 7 and 8 pushed to 2023 and 2024    

    By Express News Service

    The release of the much-awaited seventh and eighth instalments of Mission Impossible has been pushed due to concerns regarding the performance in theatres worldwide, with the new wave of COVID-19 pandemic due to the Omicron variant.

    Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 were originally scheduled to hit screens in 2021, before getting postponed to September 30, 2022, and July 7, 2023, respectively. Now, the films will release on July 14, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively.

    The film’s producers Paramount Pictures and Skydance released a joint statement to announce the news.

    “After thoughtful consideration, Paramount Pictures and Skydance have decided to postpone the release dates for Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 in response to delays due to the ongoing pandemic. The new release dates will be July 14, 2023, and June 28, 2024, respectively. We look forward to providing moviegoers with an unparalleled theatrical experience,” read the statement.

    Headlined by Tom Cruise, the Mission: Impossible film series is based on the 1966 television series of the same name. The films in the franchise have grossed over $3.5 billion worldwide.