Tom Cruise is a well-established box office star, known for headlining some extremely popular films, but it's been 24 years since he reached the biggest milestone of all. Cruise's position as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars began in the late 1980s, and he proved his worth at the box office throughout the '90s, as all but two of his films grossed more than $100 million. box office. He then surpassed that milestone 11 times in the 2000s as the Mission: Impossible the franchise expanded and he worked with Steven Spielberg on two big hits.
To date, Tom Cruise's films have grossed more than $12 billion at the global box office, according to The Numbersmaking him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Cruise's box office trajectory also continues to rise. The record for the highest-grossing film of Cruise's career has been broken twice in the last six years thanks to Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Top Gun: Maverick – who is the current record holder. For all the success Cruise still has at the box office, there's one milestone he hasn't reached in nearly a quarter of a century.
Mission: Impossible II was the last time Tom Cruise had the highest-grossing film of the year at the box office
Mission: Impossible 2 was the biggest film of 2000
Tom Cruise has had box office hit after box office hit over the past two decades. However, he has yet to produce a film during this period which ended the year as the highest-grossing film overall. The last time this happened was in 2000, with the launch of Mission: Impossible II. The long-awaited sequel to the 1996 relaunch of the Cruise franchise, which grossed an impressive $457 million worldwide, arrived with much excitement. Directed by John Woo, Mission: Impossible II promised to increase the action and thrill the audience from start to finish.
Mission: Impossible II was a huge box office success throughout the year following its release in May. It ended the year with a global box office total of US$546 million.. This performance was huge for the franchise and its star. Not only was it the best of Cruise's career at the time, but the nearly $100 million increase over the first film proved that there was a lot of interest in seeing the franchise continue. The most important part, however, is that Mission: Impossible II it was the highest-grossing film of 2000 thanks to this performance.
Cruise Mission: Impossible the sequel came out on top in a competitive box office year. His action franchise grossed nearly $90 million more than the next closest film, Gladiator. This put Cruise above Russell Crowe at the box office, as well as Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, George Clooney and Harrison Ford – who all had films in the top 10. career that ended the year as the star of the highest-grossing film.
Tom Cruise has only starred in the highest-grossing film of the year just one other time
Top Gun was the first time Tom Cruise topped the box office
Superior weapon is one of Tom Cruise's most iconic films and played a major role in making him a significant box office draw. That's largely because Tony Scott's action film grossed $176 million worldwide in 1986. To help put that into perspective, Superior weaponInflation-adjusted box office gross is $514 million. This helped Tom Cruise star in the highest-grossing film of the year for the first time in his career.
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Tom Cruise films will finish first at the global box office |
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|---|---|
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Film |
Box office |
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Superior weapon (1986) |
US$176 million |
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Mission: Impossible II (2000) |
US$546 million |
Superior weaponNoel's place at the top of the 1986 box office was narrowly won. Crocodile Dundee finished about $2 million earlier Superior weaponat the box office, so Paul Hogan's comedy almost took the top spot at the end of the year. Since Superior weapon finally won Crocodile Dundeeis the only other time in Cruise's career that he was the year's biggest box office earner, other than Mission: Impossible II. However, he almost achieved the achievement for the third time thanks to Superior weaponthe return.
Tom Cruise just lost out on the highest-grossing film of 2022 with Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick Would Have Been 2022's Biggest Box Office Hit Most Years
Top Gun: Maverick It was a film that Cruise and audiences had waited decades for, and the response propelled it to box office records. The sequel grossed nearly $1.5 billion at the global box office throughout 2022. Although the film was delayed multiple times, Paramount and Cruise smartly held out for a full theatrical release and were rewarded for it. The only reason Top Gun: Maverick didn't end the year as the biggest box office success, it's because Avatar: The Path of Water came out – and made almost another billion dollars more.
The box office battle between Avatar: The Path of Water and Top Gun: Maverick was not always expected. THE avatar the sequel has had various release dates over the years, as has Superior weaponsequel, thanks to several delays. There could easily have been a world where Avatar: The Path of Water came out in a different year than Top Gun: Maverickwhich would have allowed Cruise to be at the top of the box office again.
Finishing second at the global box office in 2022 is still an impressive achievement for Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick. This join rain man as his only film to finish second at the global box office for any year. 1996 was a big year for Cruise, as he had two films in the top five, with Mission: Impossible finishing third and Jerry Maguire finishing in fourth place. The company (1993) and War of the Worlds (2005) also finished as the fourth biggest film of their respective years.
Cruise has had several other films finish in the top 10 at the global box office throughout his career. Some good men (1992) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) are the only other films to finish in the top five. The Last Samurai finished sixth in 2003 as well. Eighth position is more common for Cruises, as Mission: Impossible III, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nationand Mission: Impossible – Fallout finished there in 2006, 2015 and 2018. Minority Report and Mission: Impossible – Reckoning both finished tenth in 2002 and 2023.
Tom Cruise's next movies probably won't give him the top spot at the box office
But he still has great successes ahead of him.
Tom Cruise is still chasing the top of the box office Mission: Impossible II for the past 24 years, and the bad news for him is that his streak will certainly continue for years to come. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hope to recover well afterwards ReckoningThe box office underperformed. Even if it achieves franchise-best numbers, it's unlikely to end up as the highest-grossing film of 2025, given the number of highly anticipated films scheduled for the year.
Superior weapon 3 is the most likely of Cruise's upcoming projects to potentially top the global box office
Nor are any other Tom Cruise films expected to finish at the top of the box office. His films with Christopher McQuarrie, Doug Liman, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu should do well for what they are, but they won't compete with the year's biggest films. Superior weapon 3 is the most likely of Cruise's upcoming projects to potentially top the global box office. However, the sequel has no release date and is still years away at best, leaving Tom Cruise waiting for a chance to be box office king once again.